The Chernihiv City Council approved the intention to establish a partnership between Chernihiv and Aachen, Germany.

Sibylle Keupen, Mayor of Aachen, addressed the Chernihiv municipality and expressed her support.

“From the bottom of my heart, I would like to extend my words of support, solidarity and deep sympathy from Aachen and its people for what you are going through. Our cities have a lot in common. All these similarities give us hope that in times of peace, we will be able to develop a partnership in culture, science and youth policy. We also look forward to visiting our cities one day and celebrating the victory together,” said Sibylle Keupen.

According to her, Aachen is ready to support and help Chernihiv right now, shifting the focus to areas such as energy efficiency, heat generation, water supply and drainage, infrastructure development and reconstruction of transport infrastructure.

“Of course, education, science, and culture will not be not left out. We will try to exchange experiences in these areas as well. Working groups with experts from both cities will be created for this purpose. This exchange will be aimed at creating various connections in areas such as science and economics. We are greatly interested in a long-term cooperation between the cities and very much want to create a solid foundation for a future tangible ongoing partnership,” said the mayor of Aachen.

According to Vladyslav Atroshenko, Mayor of Chernihiv, the next step will be the signing of the Partnership-Solidarity Agreement between Chernihiv and Aachen.

“We will sign the Agreement in order to begin the cooperation between our cities in energy efficiency, heat generation, water supply and drainage, waste processing, public transport, development of urban infrastructure and the formation of public space in Chernihiv, taking into account the experience of the city of Aachen. We will also cooperate in the area of education, culture and further development of local self-government. The experience of Germany in the issues of decentralisation and distribution of central and local power are of great interest to us, and we also want to learn how the powers delegated by the state at the level of local self-government are funded as well as many other things,” said Vladyslav Atroshenko.

The mayor of Chernihiv thanked the Union of Ukrainians in Aachen for their assistance in establishing a partnership between Ukrainian and German cities.

The Chernihiv City Council also approved the intention to establish a partnership between Chernihiv and the French city of Reims.

Vladyslav Atroshenko thanked the municipality of Reims and its mayor Arnaud Robin for initiating the partnership.