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London and New York launch "new era of cooperation" (Roundup)

May 9, 2008, 14:40 GMT

London - The mayors of London and New York announced the launch of an exchange programme Friday which they said would help forge a 'new era of cooperation' between the two major world cities. The Innovation Exchange Programme would allow officials from both cities to visit each other and swap ideas, London's new mayor Boris Johnson, and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said after a meeting in London Friday. 'New York and London have a special relationship as two of the world's greatest cities - we not only compete with each other, we learn from each other,' Bloomberg said. It was his first official meeting with Johnson, London's new Conservative mayor elected to succeed Labour's Ken Livingstone last week. However, close links between the two cities were initiated by their respective predecessors, Livingstone and Rudy Giuliani, in the aftermath of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, followed by the London transport suicide bombings four years later. Johnson, who is keen to introduce New York's 'zero tolerance' policies to London, which were first introduced by Giuliani, said he had been 'particularly impressed' by Bloomberg's inspirational leadership. The two men exchanged 'novelty gifts' - a Tiffany crystal Big Apple paperweight and a London Underground T-shirt - before starting their talks in London's City Hall. The discussions focused on crime, and especially on how London can learn lessons from strategies adopted in New York for tackling law and order issues. Johnson has already put more police officers on the streets of the capital and banned alcohol consumption on public transport from June 1. He has pledged to recruit 440 new police community support officers to patrol the Underground, popularly known as the Tube, and train network as well as buses to curb anti-social behaviour. Johnson has placed special emphasis on combating youth crime, especially knife crime, and said he would install hand-held scanners and knife arches at railway stations. There has already been a noticeable increase in the number of police officers on patrol in Central London and posters have gone up on Tube stations to inform travellers of the alcohol ban.

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