Town twinning

A virtual multilingual meeting place for local government from Europe and beyond: the new twinning website of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions (CEMR) is now online!

 

The new website (www.twinning.org) is made of two parts:

 

One door leads to twinning in Europe. It is open to European local authorities seeking European partners for twinnings on any theme (environment, social inclusion, services to citizens, economic development...). It is available in over 20 languages (from English and French to Icelandic, Serbian and Urkainian) with instantaneous translation in all languages of any "find a partner" form filled in by a town. Therefore, regardless of the language in which a town has filled in the form describing itself and its ideal twinning partner, that form will appear online in over 20 languages.

 

The European side of the website also features exhaustive information, also in all languages, about town twinning in general: What is town twinning? Why is it relevant and useful? How to fund a twinning link? Tips for successful twinnings...

 

The European part was launched on 13 November 2008 in CEMR's offices in Brussels.

 

When European towns find partners in "the South"

 

The second door leads to the worldwide twinning and partnership for development part. It was developed with the support of DG Development of the European Commission and focuses on North-South local cooperation. That part is currently available in English, French and Portuguese with Spanish to be added within a days and other international languages in future.

 

Again, it features a "find a partner" online form with instantaneous translation in all languages as well as a part bringing information to any local or regional authority interested in North-South cooperation: Background information about local development cooperation, who can help, role of the EU...

 

Now, says CEMR secretary general Jeremy Smith, European local authorities have a place they can call "of their own" in which they can seek twinning partners in a quick, easy, reliable way and in their mother tongue. Creating a interactive website in over 20 languages was not easy, We would not have been able to achieve this without the concrete support of CEMR's member associations. They must be thanked for their work in terms of translating the texts and online form, and their input and advice throughout the creation of the website.

 

As for the international part, Jeremy Smith adds, CEMR would not have been in a position to complete it in such short time without the support of DG Development and of our worlwide association United Cities and Local Government. Thanks to this joint effort, local authorities from "the North" and "the South" can now meet and hopefully foster new links with the aim to improve the living conditions of inhabitants in the poorer countries.

 

Discover CEMR's new twinning website.

 

Pictures of the event