Last Sunday in April is an International Day of Twin cities which is traditionally celebrated worldwide

Perm has a long history of twinning and nowadays its  local authorities are sharing experiences with their counterparts in twin cities in the fight against coronavirus infection.  During the period  of self-isolation many of the projects continue to develop  on-line.

Twin Cities Movement has had a long-going history dating back to the Word War II, when  the English Coventry heavily bombed and destroyed by the German aviation  and the Soviet Stalingrad which never surrendered to the enemy  decided to build up friendship relations in the interests of peace and future of the people.  On April 28, 1957  the non-governmental organization  World  Federation of Twin Cities was founded with the headquarters in Paris. In 1962  the NGO initiated the celebration of the World Twinned Cities Day on the last Sunday of April – a tradition that has been existing since 1963. 

«Friendship is the only true road from city to city» - these words  have become the slogan for twinning movement around the world.  The twinning links of Perm originated  in the beginning of the 1990s and since then have become a symbol of a new stage in the life of the city.  The first twinned relationships of Perm were established with  Amneville-les-Therme (France, 1992),  Louisville (Kentucky, USA, 1994), Oxford (UK, 1995) followed by  Qingdao (China,  2003), Duisburg (Germany,  2007 ) and Agrigento  (Italy, 2012).

Under the present difficult circumstances  the twinning links are becoming a "unique" instrument to promote  communication between people in different countries breaking up stereotypes.

Today the interaction between Perm and its twinned cities is continuing in a variety of spheres,  including the cultural exchanges,  journalism, youth policy,  local self-government, partnership between universities, cooperation of  archives,   friendship between people.  The local authorities and local communities and residents of the cities are investigating new forms of cooperation and discussing the future joint projects.  For example, in the year of the 75th anniversary of the Victory in WWII,  the archives of Perm, Oxford  and Louisville are  working on an electronic exhibition "Twin Cities during the Second World War” which is due to open by May 9, the Victory Day.

The Perm’s twin cities are being  informed of the on-line performances and concerts by Perm theatres.   Mayor of Perm City Dmitri Samoilov  sent his official address to the mayors of Louisville, Agrigento, Oxford, Amneville, Qingdao and Duisburg  whereby  informing the colleagues on the efforts of Perm to stop  the coronavirus. 

“ In these times, it remains important for us to keep in touch with our twin cities, the long-term friendship with which has proven its effectiveness.  I propose that our municipalities, representatives of the city community and residents share their work and life experiences in the fight against the coronavirus. I am sure that currently mutual support, the search for new forms of cooperation, and discussion of potential joint projects will help to successfully overcome the challenges associated with the pandemic and will become convincing evidence of the special nature of twinnig ties”,  says the address.

It is noteworthy  that Perm is actively using  the  benefits gained through its international twinning links  to address the  local issues; for instance, there are 42 community centers covering all the city districts that have been introduced as an adaption of the British Oxford experience.    The Louisville experience was successfully used in building Extreme Sport Park. A joint project with Duisburg, “Achieves with no boundaries” is  currently under implementation.  In November 2019, marking  the 90 years of Perm tramway, the partners presented the first joint virtual photo exhibition “Trams in the streets  Perm and Duisburg, black-and- white” .

In November 2019 the experts from cities of France, Germany and  the UK  took part in the Perm Regional Social Forum, presenting  their best practices at the workshop “Territorial self-government as the strategy for development and partnership”. Apart from the Forum, they also explored the work of community centers and territorial social councils in Perm.