Office of international affairs; established

(a) There is established, within the department of business, economic development, and tourism, an office of international affairs. (b) The office shall: (1) Develop policies that promote and strengthen relations with other countries in the areas of international business, economy, culture, and the arts; (2) Develop policies that promote transportation between, and tourism with, other countries; (3) Develop and promote international telecommunications and high technology exchanges; (4) Encourage the development of international sister-city programs, pairing Hawaii cities with cities around the globe for artistic, cultural, economic, educational, and faith-based exchanges; (5) Develop and promote Hawaii as the economic, trade, commerce, transportation, banking, and tourism hub of the Pacific; (6) Develop an international affairs and peace education curriculum that includes studies of international affairs and peace initiatives and takes a proactive, strategic approach to the development of policies that promote the prevention of national and international conflict, nonviolent intervention, mediation, peaceful resolution of conflict, and structured mediation of conflict; (7) Provide for exchanges of individuals between Hawaii and other nations to develop international and peace-based initiatives; and (8) Provide support to the Hawaii sister-state and international partnerships commission. (c) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, if any of the responsibilities or duties of the office of international affairs under this section overlap with the responsibilities or duties of another agency or authority under this chapter, the office of international affairs shall have exclusive jurisdiction and authority over those responsibilities and duties.