Ukraine’s Chortkiv and Moldova’s Căușeni twinned. On February 23, Volodymyr Shmatko, Mayor of Chortkiv, and Anatol Dontu, Mayor of Căușeni, signed an international partnership agreement.

This was announced by the Chortkiv City Council.

The mayors agreed to cooperate in culture, education, economy, environment protection, tourism, housing and utility services. As part of the cooperation, the city councils will jointly prepare applications for grant projects from the European Union and various funds.

Căușeni is a city located in the southeast of Moldova, in the valley of the Botna River, with a population of almost 20,000. The first mention of the town dates back to the 15th century. Căușeni as well as the entire region are renowned for their wineries, and even the British royal family appreciate the locally produced wines.

Decentralization reminds that municipalities of Ukraine can use the International Municipal Partnership Guidelines to build communication with foreign municipalities and enter into twinning agreements. These Guidelines offer algorithms and practical advice on establishing a partnership, cases of successful partnerships, practical advice on customs clearance and accounting of various types of assistance that partners can exchange, information on how to choose partners, how to organise the work of competent professionals or division, as well as information on financing, bookkeeping and reporting and a lot of other useful information.

Based on these Guidelines, the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine developed the Partnership for Recovery and Development section of the Decentralization national portal, with the support of DECIDE (Decentralisation for Improved Democratic Education), a Swiss-Ukrainian project, and the U-LEAD with Europe Programme.

These Guidelines are based on the methodology of the Council of Europe, City to City Cooperation, and developed by the Council of Europe as part of the Programme “Decentralisation and Public Administration Reform in Ukraine” at the request of the Ministry for Development of Communities and Territories of Ukraine.