New Sister City Relations: A Delegation from the French City of Nancy Arrives in Vinnytsia

On August 11, Vinnytsia Mayor Serhii Morhunov met a delegation from the city of Nancy, France. The foreign partners, headed by the Mayor of Nancy Mathieu Klein, came to Vinnytsia on a working visit. In particular, they came to sign a Memorandum of Understanding on establishing sister city relations between our cities.

During the first offline meeting with his French counterpart, Serhii Morhunov told how our city lives. They talked about the environment, modernization of transport infrastructure and spatial development, as well as industry and the agricultural sector, which are gaining momentum in Vinnytsia City Territorial Community. In addition, they discussed how the war affected the city and the steps taken by the municipality to integrate internally displaced persons into the community.

"I am pleased to welcome you to Vinnytsia and glad that the air raid alert did not interfere with our meeting. Unfortunately, the russians continue to actively terrorize Ukraine. Vinnytsia has already suffered three missile strikes - the first attack was on March 6, 2022, and then we lost six employees of Vinnytsia Airport, and the largest tragedy occurred on July 14 on Peremohy Square," recalls Serhii Morhunov. "But life goes on and we need to work, to maintain the stable operation of critical infrastructure so that people can live in the usual comfortable conditions even during the war. We also continue to establish international relations and enlist the support of our partners, as we have many challenges to overcome. Given our candidacy for membership in the European Union, we will be able to move forward dynamically together."

The Mayor of Nancy, Mathieu Klein, praised our city's desire to integrate into the European community and drew attention to the project that has been implemented in Vinnytsia for several years in a row - the Public Initiative Budget. He was impressed by the openness and transparency in communicating with people, which, he said, is a common feature of our municipalities. Nancy also has a participatory budget, which allows people to choose which direction the city should move in and which projects to develop in order to benefit.

"Thank you for your hospitality. I am glad to come to Vinnytsia. Since the beginning of the full-scale war, residents of Nancy have been very concerned about what is happening in Ukraine. Until the middle of the 18th century, Nancy was an independent city of an independent county, the last count of which was Stanisław Leszczynski, who was the king of Poland and was born in Lviv. So, we can say that the history of Nancy has long been oriented toward Eastern countries. We have long had close ties, in particular with Karlsruhe, which has been our sister city for over 62 years. And with Lublin for over 50 years. So we are working closely with both of these cities to open up cooperation with countries to the east of us. I am very grateful to the mayor of Karlsruhe, with whom you have recently established a partnership, and I really want our three cities to be closely connected," said Mathieu Klein.

The mayors of both cities discussed further cooperation and possible exchange of experience in various fields. In particular, medicine - French doctors are ready to share their knowledge and experience in the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular diseases and diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. In the future, our communities will also cooperate in the development of educational programs and internships, as well as exchange experience in spatial development and mobility.