Zhytomyr City Council approved the partnership with the German city of Dortmund at the council meeting on February 23. Immediately after this decision, Serhii Sukhomlyn, Mayor of Zhytomyr, and Thomas Westphal, Lord Mayor of Dortmund, signed the agreement.
 

This was announced by the press service of the Zhytomyr City Council.

“We lived through a difficult year full of loss, pain, destruction... Yet we have no other choice but to win! And after that, a long period of recovery awaits. I believe that Germany and Dortmund in particular will help us in this difficult task,” Serhii Sukhomlyn said.

The Lord Mayor of Dortmund recalled the beginning of the full-scale invasion. According to him, up to 4,000 people then spontaneously gathered on the city square, urging Russia to end the war.

The solidarity partnership agreement provides for cooperation in innovative technologies, cyber security, youth policy, arrangement of summer camps in Dortmund for children of Zhytomyr and cooperation between healthcare facilities and universities.

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.