At the end of July 2015, the pilot project of Cities International Activity Rating (CIAR) has been finished. 50 cities of Eurasian region took part in the rating.

The CIAR is aimed to stimulate cities to intensification of international activities and participation in the global processes and brings to light the cities most actively working on strengthening the international relations and promoting their image on the international arena. Nobody has made such ratings yet and CIAR is an unprecedented initiative.

ities International Activity Rating (CIAR) is a ranking of municipalities according to the state of their international relations development. The experts considered such criteria groups as a business activity in the city, the international activity of the population, international organizations and institutions, international events, infrastructure and socio-demographic data. Each group of criteria consists of indicators that fully reflect the content side of criterion.

"Business activity" reflects the representation of the city in foreign markets, its transparency and attractiveness to the international community. This unit includes economic indicators and collects the data on the volume of exports of the city on the international markets, foreign investment, the number of enterprises with foreign capital, as well as branches and representative offices of foreign companies.

 "International Activity" of city population reflects the degree of attractiveness of the city for foreigners, as well as the representation of the local population in the international arena.This unit collects the data on the movement of population migration, student exchanges and tourism flows.

"International organizations and institutions" reflects the degree of cooperation of the city with international organizations and institutions and the representation of the city in the international educational arena. It includes the data on the number of the world-class universities included in the Top 600 World Universities List and universities with double degree program with foreign universities; the number of city memberships in international organizations; the number of foreign sister cities.

"International events" is the assessment of the degree of involvement of the city in the organization and participation in international events. The expert consider the data on the number of scientific, cultural and business events held on the territory of the city, and the participation of city leaders in the events abroad; they also took into account the number of international competitions where the city took part, and the number of awards that are assigned to the city.

"Infrastructure" gives an evaluation to the complex of organizations and institutions, allowing the city to develop its international activity. The experts take into account such items as visa centers, embassies, consulates of foreign states, foreign airports and number of foreign airlines working there, as well as international centers providing infrastructure and services for international events and establishment of international contacts.

The last set of questions is "socio-demographic data", which sets out the social and political figures of the city, such as population, the city administration, as well as the presence of English-language version of the city administration web-site and the level of the foreign language knowledge obtained by the city leader.

Total rating:

1. Astana (Kazakhstan)
2. Khabarovsk (Russia)
3. Yekaterinburg (Russia)
4. Nizhny Novgorod (Russia)
5. Krasnoyarsk (Russia)
6. Novosibirsk (Russia)
7. Perm (Russia)
8. Kazan (Russia)
9. Yakutsk (Russia)
10. Stavropol (Russia)

Source: UCLG Eurasia