Mayor Martin Walsh traveled to Cape Verde last Friday for a five-day trip across the islands of Fogo, Brava, and Santiago.

The mayor traveled with a delegation “comprised of City of Boston and Commonwealth of Massachusetts officials, and business and nonprofit leaders, and community stakeholders.”

Boston and Cape Verde’s capital city Praia established a sister-city relationship in 2015, noting the long history of the country’s natives settling in Boston around the late 19th century. They moved into the area seeking employment in the whaling and cranberry industries at the time. Over 40,000 Cape Verdeans live in Greater Boston, according to the American Community Survey.

Walsh was joined by the city’s economic development chief, John Barros; their chief diversity officer, Danielson Tavares; Boston Fire Commissioner Joe Finn; the Boston Planning and Development Agency’s director of research, Alvaro Lima; State Sen. Vinny DeMacedo; State Rep. Liz Miranda; Nam Pham, assistant secretary of business development and international trade for the state; and representatives from the from Berklee College of Music, Hyams Foundation, Cruz Construction, and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

While on the trip, the mayor and his coalition will be focused on expanding economic opportunities between Boston and Cape Verde, and refocusing the sister-city agreement touching on education, health, arts and culture, business and trade, and public safety.

It is the mayor’s first trip to Cape Verde and his second international trip since re-election, after a 2017 voyage to Ireland. The Cape Verde visit concludes on Feb. 28.