“Together for Europe: solidarity, reconstruction, future prospects” is the theme of this year’s 6th German-Ukrainian conference of municipal partnerships in Leipzig, which gathered about 600 representatives of local self-governments of Ukraine and Germany.
The purpose of the conference is to strengthen the network of Ukrainian-German partnerships, to show the possibilities of such cooperation, as well as the reconstruction and post-war development of Ukraine. Such conferences serve as an opportunity to exchange opinions between partner communities regarding current needs, challenges and projects in the field of European cooperation.
Drohobytsk community was presented at the international conference by the mayor Taras Kuchma.
As Taras Kuchma commented, thanks to such professional conferences, community leaders are able to directly inform the international community about events in Ukraine and Russia’s terrorist activities against the Ukrainian people. During his speech at the panel discussion, the mayor spoke about the life of the community in the first days of the full-scale invasion – about how the city accepted internally displaced persons, what material and psychological assistance it provided and continues to provide to them.
In addition, during the conference, Taras Kuchma talked with his colleague, the head of Greifswald, Stefan Fassbinder, with whom the Partnership Agreement between the two cities was signed in 2019.
Since then, it has been possible to make a number of visits with the aim of exchanging experience in the field of health care, culture and tourism, science, IT, and the utility industry. And since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia, thanks to the established cooperation, it was possible to attract a lot of humanitarian aid from Greifswald to the Drohobych community.
The solidarity of the German communities with Ukraine was emphasized by the Mayor of Leipzig Burghardt Jung and the Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier
Our focus is the reconstruction of Ukraine and the European development perspective. This is evidenced by more than 186 partnerships between German and Ukrainian cities and communities. There is no stronger support than such ties between our two countries. This wave of solidarity will not subside, on the contrary, it will grow, because the war is not over and we must bet on the development of strong partnership relations. Each partnership strengthens ties with Europe and promotes European integration. Ukrainians, you are not alone, you can rely on us, thank you for being here,” Federal President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressed the audience.
