Town twinning or sister cities is a concept where towns or cities from geographically and politically distinct areas are paired, with the goal of fostering human contact and cultural links. In Europe, such pairs of towns are known as twin towns, friendship towns or, in German, partner towns (Partnerstädte); in North America and Australasia, the term sister cities is used for the same concept; and brother cities (города-побратимы) is the term in the former Soviet bloc. Twin towns often (though by no means always) have similar demographic and other characteristics. Sometimes, even larger areas enter into "twinning" agreements, such as that between the provinces of Hainan in China and Jeju in South Korea.
The concept can be likened to a scaled up version of a "pen pal" scheme, where the "pals" are whole towns or cities. In practice, the twinning arrangements often lead to student exchanges, as well as economic and cultural collaborations.
Vitre (France) - www.mairie-vitre.com
Almensa (Spain)
Mosbach (Germany) - http://www.mosbach.de/Homepage-lang-en.html
For more information, please contact: geraldrickman@hotmail.com - 01590 622465
Pont St Martin (Loire Atlantique, France)
For more information, please contact: Colin Campbell - 01590 623413
Bretteville (Normandy, France)
For more information, please contact: ruthc@annies43.freeserve.co.uk - 01590 683077 (Mrs Ruth Conway)
La Chevroliere (Loire L’Atlantique, France)
For more information, please contact: nigelandfrances@tiscali.co.uk - 023 8028 4270
Conteleu (Normandy, France)
For more information, please contact: B A Underwood - Secretary The Rydal Station Road NEW MILTON Hampshire
Yerville (France)
For more information, please contact: rew@rwareham76.freeserve.co.uk - 01425 613336 (Reg Wareham)