Zaporizhzhia presents results of German-Ukrainian cooperation at Leipzig Conference

The delegation from Zaporizhzhia participated in the international municipal partnerships conference for the sixth time. This event annually brings together representatives from German cities and Ukrainian communities engaged in mutual partnerships.

This year’s German-Ukrainian Municipal Partnerships Conference was held in Leipzig, focusing on the timely theme, “Together for Europe: Solidarity, Reconstruction, Future Prospects.” The conference provided an opportunity for more than 500 local officials from Germany and Ukraine to discuss the current needs, projects, and challenges of cooperation.

Viktoriia Agientaieva, the Director of the municipal institution “City Development Institute of Zaporizhzhia,” also took part in the conference.

“Since July 2022, the City Development Institute has been coordinating collaborations with German twin cities, covering humanitarian cooperation, project collaboration, and joint initiatives in education, Viktoriia Agientaieva explained, “We are in constant communication with colleagues in Oberhausen and Magdeburg, helping update the needs of our community and facilitating the delivery of humanitarian cargoes. Our partner cities sincerely empathize with the situation in Ukraine and specifically in Zaporizhzhia. They are eager to assist our city and strengthen it during these challenging times. For understandable reasons, we communicate only remotely. However, thanks to the support of the Service Agency Communities in One World and this conference, we finally had the chance to meet, summarize the results of joint work, and discuss future collaboration.”

Over the past year, Zaporizhzhia has received four humanitarian cargoes and vehicles for municipal enterprises from German partners. Fruitful collaboration has been established in education and youth work. In spring, Oberhausen hosted athletes from the Lokomotiv Youth Sports School, and four months later, two groups of children from the frontline city enjoyed their summer break at the Barleber See camp in Magdeburg. The coming year will witness a collaborative project between Zaporizhzhia and Oberhausen aimed at improving rehabilitation services at City Hospital No. 3. These and other results of municipal partnerships were presented in one of the central discussions of the conference.

For Zaporizhzhia, a city just a few dozen kilometers from the front line, participation in such conferences is an opportunity to convey important messages about international support and post-war reconstruction to German colleagues and politicians. It also enables partners to agree on the priorities of cooperation.

During the discussions, Anatolii Kurtiev, the secretary of the Zaporizhzhia City Council, emphasized that there are always certain people behind every reform. He suggested that German municipalities invite doctors, educators, and municipal workers from Zaporizhzhia to enrich their professional experience: “Every specialist must see with their own eyes how successful European cities live, to then apply the acquired knowledge for the development of our Zaporizhzhia.”

To learn more about these municipal partnerships, please see: Oberhausen, Magdeburg.

Photos: Nicky Hellfritzsch (SKEW website), Jens Schlueter (SKEW website).