BestCities Global Alliance has announced Berlin and Houston as full partners in its international convention bureau network.

After seven months as preliminary members, the two cities now formally join Cape Town, Copenhagen, Dubai, Edinburgh, Melbourne, San Juan, Singapore and Vancouver.

As all 10 partners prepare to gather together for the first time at IMEX in Frankfurt, BestCities Board Chair Jerad Bachar says the Berlin Convention Office of visitBerlin and the Greater Houston CVB had satisfied all of the stringent requirements of membership to become full partners as of May 2012.

Houston is the fourth-largest U.S. city and a hub for the energy, medical and aeronautical business sectors. The Houston Airport System offers non-stop flights from 170 destinations around the world, and the city offers a wide array of unique selling points, including two major convention centers and unique event spaces such as Space Center Houston. (Read our article about the American Association of Museums conference in Houston, the most welcoming event the organization has ever experienced.)

Berlin has developed into an internationally renowned convention city and has been named as one of the top five convention cities worldwide by ICCA for the past seven years. The German capital features a large number of convention centers and locations—including the award-winning International Congress Center ICC Berlin—as well as Europe’s most modern hotel landscape. (Read our article that details why Berlin was an ideal location for the maiden Cognitive Cities 2011 event.)