Vinnytsia and the American City of Boulder Are Launching an Official Partnership

Vinnytsia is expanding its network of international partners. Yesterday, 22 April, during an online meeting with representatives of the American city of Boulder, Colorado, Vinnytsia Mayor Serhii Morhunov signed a Declaration of Intent for partnership cooperation between our cities. This agreement opens up new opportunities for cooperation in various areas of socio-economic life.

Both cities plan to exchange experience in the fields of sustainable development, innovation and community initiatives, as well as in sectors such as the economy, energy, medicine, education, culture, and emergency and crisis response.

As Vinnytsia Mayor Serhii Morhunov noted, the new partnership with Boulder in the US is an important step towards strengthening international cooperation and supporting communities during these challenging times.

‘Despite the thousands of kilometres, the Atlantic Ocean and differing security conditions, we are united by a desire for cooperation and partnership. This is a conscious choice, as since 2022 we have come a long way towards each other. Today, as the world faces serious challenges, we particularly feel the value of support. Ukraine has been resisting aggression for many years, and I thank the American people, politicians and communities for their support; this is of paramount importance for our resilience,' he remarked.

Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett is convinced that this partnership will serve as an important platform for joint projects and will bring the Ukrainian and American communities even closer together. He also added that the signing of the official Declaration of Intent for partnership cooperation between our cities demonstrates a shared commitment to friendship, cooperation and the mutual exchange of experience for the sake of peace, resilience and the development of democratic values.

‘It is a great honour for me to be present at today’s event. I would like to thank the people who made this meeting possible. I am deeply impressed by the resilience of the Ukrainian people. I hope that our cooperation will bring more light to the residents of Boulder and Vinnytsia. We are grateful to the people of Vinnytsia and look forward to a long-term partnership,' said Boulder Mayor Aaron Brockett.

Serhii Morhunov also emphasised that Vinnytsia has friendly ties with many cities across various European countries, and that partnerships with them are built primarily on a horizontal level, where communication and the implementation of various projects involve different institutions, the public, educational establishments and healthcare facilities, and, of course, local authorities.

In fact, it was this very initiative that marked the start of cooperation between Vinnytsia and Boulder following the full-scale invasion, when a local resident, Gaea Logan – an experienced psychoanalyst and group therapist – launched an online support programme for Ukrainian mental health professionals. This initiative subsequently developed into systematic cooperation, notably with the Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University, as well as the establishment of the International Institute for Trauma Research, which is currently training specialists to address the consequences of the war.

'Horizontal links between cities become points of support – this is where solutions that strengthen communities are born. We have learnt to act in conditions of uncertainty, to adapt and to take responsibility. No city can be strong without partners. I am convinced that this twinning is, above all, about the exchange of experience, mutual trust and a shared future. And the best way to shape it is to build it together today. I thank Boulder for its openness and willingness to cooperate. True alliances are forged precisely in the face of challenges,' added Serhii Morhunov.

Pavlo Yablonskyi, Chairman of Vinnytsia City Council, emphasised that the new partnership has all the prerequisites to become meaningful and mutually beneficial for both communities:

'For us, this is the foundation for further cooperation, because any partnership has value only when it is filled with concrete content and practical results. Ukraine today has unique experience in responding to extraordinary challenges, and at the same time, communities in different parts of the world face similar problems. That is why it is important to pool this experience and use it for joint development,' he noted.