WESTERN BUREAU — Montego Bay may soon be receiving more traffic lights as a result of its close ties with sister city, Atlanta, USA.

“Atlanta is doing some upgrading in terms of traffic equipment and it seems that some of the equipment that we are phasing out would be equipment that you could use in Montego Bay,” Shirley Clarke Franklin, mayor of the US city, said Wednesday.

Franklin, who was making a courtesy call to Montego Bay mayor, Hugh Solomon, also pointed out that Atlanta will be hosting a trade exposition on August 6th and 7th to coincide with Jamaica’s Independence celebrations. The event is part of the move to cement the ties between the two cities.

Solomon, who demits office at the end of the month, was also keen to point out other benefits of the relationship over the years, as well as those pending.

“An individual, who is also a Jamaican, pledged a Dodge van that will be able to take the people at the infirmary to the hospital and it will also be able to take three handicapped persons in a wheelchair,” he said. “We were called two weeks ago to say the van is ready. We have other people who are actually getting the cocktail that is needed for the AIDS patients… and that is being explored as I speak now…”

The sister city relationship between Atlanta and Montego Bay is over 20 years old.

Franklin, who also addressed an American Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) luncheon at the Ritz Carlton Hotel this week, spoke about the many opportunities that were available to Jamaicans wanting to do business in her city.

Voted the fourth best city in America to do business by Forbes magazine, Atlanta is also home to 15 Fortune 500 companies and 30 Fortune 1,000 companies, many of which have established business locations and relationships throughout the Americas. It is home to companies such as Coca-Cola, CNN, Delta Airlines, and UPS.

More than 300 people move into metropolitan Atlanta daily; its Hartsfield International Airport is one of the busiest in the US; and Atlanta is regarded as prime ground for which to establish business connections.

“What this means is that we are a market for your business,” Franklin said, “whether it’s business in Jamaica or in Atlanta. What I offer you is access, access to my office and access to (Atlanta’s) resources.”

She also offered the expertise Atlanta had from successfully hosting the Centennial Olympic Games in 1996, in planning for the World Cup Cricket in 2007. Franklin, who served as senior vice-president for external relations for the Games, urged the redevelopment of communities in the run-up to the World Cup as an opportunity for broader support for infrastructure for longer term development.

“I am extending an open invitation. Ask us for help,” she said. “We don’t know cricket but we know logistics.”

Franklin was inaugurated on January 7th, 2002 as Atlanta’s first woman mayor, as well as the first African-American woman to serve as mayor for a major southwestern city. She is Atlanta’s 58th mayor.