“Perm-Oxford 2020: Aspects of Cooperation” on-line conference was held on October 8, 2020 bringing together participants from the two cities
Photo: Tatiana GrigorievaThis year Perm and Oxford celebrate the 25th anniversary of official twinning relationship. Actually friendship links between the citizens and voluntary organisations started over 30 years ago.
The conference covered a variety of formats: the first part included presentations from the twinning activists who talked about most successful projects over the years of the link, such as cultural exchanges with Perm groups like “Yarmarka”, “Karavay”, “Neposedy”, Panfilov’s Ballet and joint performances both in Oxford and Perm; Oxford groups participating in “We Are Together” festivals in Perm; joint on-line aкchieves exhibition “Contribution to Victory”; universities exchanges; joint projects of journalists; school theatre project; “Perm-Oxford: friends for a quarter of a century” publication; young footballers sport exchanges etc.
The second part of the conference included presentations in English by Perm school and university students who covered the twinning history and the values of people-to-people relations. Oxford was represented by nearly all the key figures who contributed a lot into building the link and who are actively keeping it up at present, namely: Karen Hewitt, Oxford Perm- Association Chair, Tim Sadler, Executive Director for Community Services at Oxford City Council, Bob Price, ex-leader of Oxford City Council, project coordinators: May Wylie, Angela Charlton and others. The conference Questions and Answers Session addressed a number of issues raised by the Perm participants.
The conference demonstrated that the relations established between the twinned cities and their active residents are gaining even more importance nowadays and in the times of instability help retain and promote friendly relations and understanding between the countries.
The conference was held at Perm Regional Gorky Library, the recording is available at.
