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First International Sister Cities Conference in the City of Freiburg

Bonn, 7th November
Several people sit at a table; a man in the middle signs a document; several people stand in the background; one of the women holds a microphone in her hand and speaks.
City representatives at the signing ceremony of the 'Sister Cities Declaration'. Photo: City of Freiburg/Raach

Between October 22 and 24 the city of Freiburg in cooperation with the SKEW invited its sister cities to discuss the joint implementation of the Agenda 2030 during the ‘International Sister Cities Conference’ in Freiburg. Out of twelve sister cities of Freiburg, eleven attended the conference: Besançon (France), Madison (USA), Padua (Italy), Guildford (GB), Lemberg (Ukraine), Wiwilí (Nicaragua), Suwon (Republic of Korea), Matsuyama (Japan), Tel Aviv-Jaffa (Israel), Innsbruck (Austria) and Isfahan (Iran).

On the eve of the conference the city of Freiburg welcomed the participants at a small evening reception, giving them a first opportunity to network.

There are people sitting in a historic hall. A man stands at a desk and speaks. In the background a picture is projected onto a screen.
The English sister city Guildford presents its current Agenda 2030 activities to the plenum. Photo: City of Freiburg/Raach

The first day focused on localizing the Agenda 2030 on the respective municipal level. In the beginning the sister cities presented their current activities and strategic processes to implement the Agenda 2030 which was followed by different workshops dealing with SDG 4 (education), 11 (Sustainable cities) as well as 13 (environmental protection). During the workshops the participants were given time for collegial consultation on the respective challenge and first ideas for solutions were developed and would be used as a base for the second day of the conference. Additionally, the first mayor of Freiburg, Martin Horn, gave the sister cities the opportunity to introduce themselves to the members of the city council during one of their meetings.

A woman with a microphone in her hand is speaking; in the background there are several movable walls peppered with notes as well as a screen.
Presentation of jointly developed project ideas on the second conference day. Photo: City of Freiburg/Raach

The focus of the second day was on developing possible ideas for joint projects on implementing the Agenda 2030 in the frame of future cooperation between the sister cities.

The following five topics were chosen in a query based on the ideas developed during the first day:

  • Citizen participation
  • Involvement of business stakeholders
  • Behaviour change (consumption and recycling patterns as emphasis)
  • Use of renewable energies in densely populated areas
  • Transformation of streets und use of public space

Especially the exchange between the different administrative bodies of the sister cities was received as valuable and the collegial consultations were very helpful.

Celebratory signature of the ‘Sister Cities’ Declaration’

In conclusion of the conference all participating top ranking politicians signed the ‘Sister Cities Declaration’ in which the cities obliged to create a commission with elected representatives of all participating cities. This commission would be tasked with initiating and controlling the joint project ideas. Furthermore, the city of Freiburg would like to meet again with its sister cities in two years for a follow up conference on this matter.

Further information

Sister cities of the city of Freiburg

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