Municipality

The municipality of Lohmen lies between Güstrow and Goldberg in the charming lake and forest landscape of the central Mecklenburg Lake District. The inhabitants of Lohmen maintain a lively exchange with their partner community, the town of Moabi in Gabon. In 2018, a six-member delegation from Lohmen with Mayor Bernd Dikau made their way to East Asia in search of new partner communities in Taiwan.

zukunftskommunen.de

The Hanseatic town of Greifswald

Greifswald and the Brazilian town Pomerode have agreed upon a climate partnership. The foundation of this cooperation is the ’50 climate partnerships by 2015′ project. Greifswald and Pomerode want to deepen their know-how, amongst other things, in the area of the reduction of energy and resources, sustainable mobility and the support of sustainable development in towns.
The aim of this project is to set up a bi-lateral action programme for climate adaptation. This action plan contains concrete measures which are to be carried out in Greifswald and Pomerode during the coming 10 to 15 years.

www.greifswald.de

The Hanseatic town of Rostock

Bizerte: partnership since 2017
Up to now both partners have profited form the exchange of expertise in the area of communal refuse management and economic cooperation. The Maritime Festival in Bizerte, Tunisia’s most northerly town, was inspired by Rostock’s Hanseatic Sail and then launched. Bizerte(French) or Bizerta (Arabic) is an important shipping and trading centre on the Mediterranean Sea. In the town there is an outer as well as an inner harbour which are connected by a canal. Bizerte is the most northerly town in Africa.

Panajachel: partnership since 2018
In 2016 Rostock’s senator for construction and environment along with official representatives from Panajachel opened the state primary school which had been rebuilt to make it earthquake-safe with the help of donations from Rostock. The Fair Trade connection between the coffee cooperative in Chacayá near Panajachel and Karl’s Erdbeerhof (Strawberry Farm) in Rövershagen is also supported by Rostock.
Apart from that there is a continuous dialogue about waste disposal management between both towns. In 2018 Rostock donated a dustbin lorry to Panajachel.
The town: The town lives predominantly from tourism. There are a large number of restaurants, cafés, bars, bed and breakfasts as well as hotels. The town is also renowned for its unique art work. Regional agriculture, in particular, is also supported.

Batumi: partnership since 2012
The first direct contact was made in 2011 following the Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (Society for International Cooperation) (GIZ)’s initiative. In 2012 both towns signed a declaration of intent for their cooperation. Since then there has been a fruitful exchange between institutions regarding strategic, forward looking and sustainable town planning; environmental management and how to maximise the tourism potential. This cooperation, through participation in international projects, helps the town to become more closely connected to Europe. Both towns regularly take part in the South Caucasus towns networking meeting organised by the GIZ; such as in Rostock in 2018.
The town: Batumi, the town on the Black Sea, was founded as an ancient Greek colony named ‘Batis’. The name derives from the Greek words ‘batis limin’ which mean ‘deep harbour’.

Dalian: partnership since 1988.
Students from the foreign language university of Dalain spend two semesters in Rostock to ‘perfect’ their German.
The town: Dalain has been a special economic zone sine 1984. Numerous branches of foreign companies such as Liebherr-Werks and branches of international chains like Wal-Mart, Carrefour and Metro have been set up here.

Haikon: friends since 2011
In 2014 the mayor of Rostock was the guest of honour at the international summit meeting to which all towns that were partnered with Haikon were invited.
The town: The town Haikon originates back to the Han Dynasty and is already over 900 years old. It is also well known as the ‘Coconut Town’ and is the political , economical and cultural centre of the island of Hainan.

Hefei: twinned since 2010.
Many conferences have taken place over a number of years between the universities with emphasis on efficient material flow management (reuse of waste).
The town: Hefei is the capital of the eastern province of Anhui and is its political, economic and cultural centre.

www.rostock-international.de

Administrative District of Ludwigslust-Parchim

In March 1999 a delegation from Ludwigslust-Parchim travelled to the Yunlin administrative district on the island of Taiwan. A partnership contract was signed by the president of the district assembly and the head of the administrative district in a special ceremony during the visit to Yunlin. In this they unanimously declared and agreed on the importance of contact between individuals, associations, parties, students and artists. Within this partnership the emphasis was to be the economy and tourist development. In 2019 the administrative districts of Ludwigslust-Parchim and Yunlin celebrated the 20th anniversary of their partnership.

www.kreis-lup.de

Above all, Grevesmühlen’s town twinnings and friendships are lively and dynamic thanks to the commitment of its citizens. Traditionally and currently, Grevesmühlen’s citizens are open-minded and active to an above-average extent – whether in student exchanges, cultural dialogue or sporting competitions.

www.grevesmuehlen.eu

Neubrandenburg makes friends – all over the world…
Nine town twinnings are living proof of this. These partnerships were established at very different times and political conditions. But they all have one thing in common: they form bridges over which people can approach each other. The town twinning between Nazareth and Neubrandenburg has existed since 1998. The town twinning between Yangzhou (China) and Neubrandenburg is the most recent and has existed since 1999.

www.neubrandenburg.de

The partnership between the city of Huai’an in the Jiangsu province of the People’s Republic of China and Sassnitz began in 2006 with a visit by schoolchildren. Annual youth exchanges and encounters, along with other cooperation activities, continue to be at the heart of this town twinning. The partnership agreement with the Chinese city of Huaian was signed on 9 June 2007, making the port city one of 16 places worldwide with which Huaian maintains partnership relations.
It is 7916 kilometres as the crow flies from Sassnitz to Huai’an in the People’s Republic of China. 5.2 million inhabitants live in the metropolis of Huai’an in the Chinese province of Jiangsu. Rügen’s port city has around 10000 inhabitants.

www.sassnitz.de

The Hanseatic town of Stralsund has a city partnership with the Chinese city of Huangshan in the province of Anhui. The two cities concluded this agreement in October 2015. In addition, the Hanseatic City’s south-north contacts also extend to Morocco. A five-member delegation from the Moroccan city of Meknès visited the Hanseatic city of Stralsund from 8th to 11th September 2019. A year ago, the North African municipality of Stralsund asked for support for the introduction of a tourist guidance system in the Medina (old town), a World Heritage site. The temporary project partnership within the framework of the “Municipal Knowledge Transfer Maghreb – Germany” is financed by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and accompanied by the Service Agency Communities in One World and the Society for International Cooperation. The project aims to promote the exchange of knowledge and experience between North African and German municipalities through jointly implemented urban projects.

www.stralsund.de

With the city Pomerode the former mayor of the city Torgelow Ralf Gottschalk developed a town twinning of the special kind. Of course, this was also about economic interests, so that both cities could profit from each other. At the same time a good friendship developed however with the mayor of the Brazilian city, Ercio Kriek.

haffmedia.de