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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