Home > Town twinning
This article is about partnerships between towns distant from each other; see Twin cities for the different concept of physically neighbouring cities.
Town twinning is a concept where towns or cities from geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the accent on fostering human contact and cultural links. In Europe, such pairs of towns are known as twin towns; in North America, the term sister cities is used for the same concept. Twin towns often (though by no means always) have similar demographic and other characteristics. Sometimes, even larger areas enter into "twinning" agreements, such as that between the provinces of Hainan in the China and Jeju in South Korea.
The concept can be likened to a scaled up version of a " pen pal" scheme, where the "pals" are whole towns or cities. In practice, the twinning arrangements often lead to student exchanges, as well as economic and cultural collaborations.
1 Europe
The practice of town twinning was developed in Europe after the Second World War as a way to bring European people into a closer understanding of each other and to promote cross-border projects of mutual benefit. While still more popular as a concept in Europe than elsewhere, the idea has now spread to other continents, leading to some very interesting pairings.
Within Europe, town twinning is now supported by the European Union. The support scheme was established in 1989. In 20032003 is a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar), and also: The International Year of Freshwater The European Disability Year Summary Perhaps the defining global event of the year 2003 was the Invasion of Iraq launched by the U an annual budget of about 12 million euroThe euro ISO 4217 code EUR is the currency of twelve of the twenty-five nations that form the European Union (and four outside it, as well as Montenegro and Kosovo), which form the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU). It is the result of the most significans was allocated to about 1,300 projects.
2 North America
The American "Sister Cities" program was begun in 19561956 is a leap year starting on Sunday. see link for calendar) Events January January 1 End of Anglo- Egyptian Condominium in Sudan. January 16 President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine January 26 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in by Dwight Eisenhower. It was originally administered as part of the National League of Cities , but since 1967Events January January 4 British motorboat racer Donald Campbell dies while attempting a water speed record in Coniston Lake. January 4 Algerian revolutionary Mohammed Khider is shot in Madrid. January 6 Vietnam War: USMC and ARVN troops launch " Operatio has been a separate organization, Sister Cities International (SCI), which is a nonprofit citizen diplomacy network creating and strengthening partnerships between U.S. and international communities in an effort to increase global cooperation at the municipal level, to promote cultural understanding and to stimulate economic development. SCI leads the movement for local community development and volunteer action by motivating and empowering private citizens, municipal officials and business leaders to conduct long-term programs of mutual benefit.
3 See also
- List of twin towns and sister citiesThis is a list of twin towns or sister cities that is, pairs of towns or cities in different countries which have town twinning arrangements. Where known, the date of formation of the twinning agreement is included in parenthesis. Note that the list is li - a comprehensive, though incomplete, list of twinning arrangements, arranged by country.
4 External links
