Jeffery Jones, the mayor of Paterson, during his much lambasted visit to India, has proposed to establish sister city link between the Indian city of Surat, a large diamond cutting town with a population of more than 4 million, and the city of Paterson, according to a local Indian newspaper.

Mr Jones apparently met with a host of entrepreneurs and business leaders in the southern Indian city on Thursday, where he expressed an interest in the development bilateral relationship between the two cities in the area of “textiles” and “diamonds”. Surat cuts and polishes more than 90-percent of diamonds in the world market.

“It is my firm belief that making Surat our sister city could further boost the Industrial developments in Surat as well as Paterson city. Like Surat is known as the silk city, Paterson too is known for its silk manufacturing,” said Mr Jones to the Times of India. A week ago, during a speech Mr Jones admitted that the city, which is fabled for making silk, does not produce a single piece of it today.

The city has sister city status with a number of municipalities around the world including with Lyon, France; Eskişehir, Turkey; and Yulin, China.