Städtepartenrscchaftsverein presented the website www.friendsineurope.com to the European Committee
Rheine. “Respect! That is an enormous amount of work. But it is lived Europe and for imitation quite certainly recommended”, said the chairman of the European committee of the German city and municipality federation, Thomas Schmidt (Teltow), on Tuesday in the direction of the city partnership association Rheine. On invitation of the European committee which met on Monday and Tuesday in the Falkenhof, chairman Reiner Wellmann and medium representative Gerd Cosse had presented the Website www.friendsineurope.com. The side offers current information from the five partner cities and thus the inhabitants at any time the opportunity to inform about pieces of news in the partner cities. A translation program ensures that the news is also available in Lithuanian, Dutch, Portuguese and English.
“The idea for this joint platform came during the pandemic, when practically all exchange programs came to a halt for two years. We thought about how to keep people interested in what was happening in twin cities with up-to-date information,” Chairman Reiner Wellmann told the board on Tuesday. Gerd Cosse then guided the participants, who had come from all over Germany, through the structure of the website. The project is a model of success, because 17000 visitors in two years with over 30000 page views are proof of the mutual interest in local events. And if with a pupil exchange, like recently with the Portuguese partner city Leiria, daily current reports of the young humans appear, then the call numbers are already enormous, explained Cosse before the committee.
The members informed after the lectures further with the representatives of the town twinning association Rheine. And the chairman of the panel bid farewell to the two guest speakers with an encouraging “Keep up the good work!”
The European committee met already for the third time in Rheine. For many years, the former mayor Günter Thum was chairman of the committee. Since his retirement, he has been honorary chairman of the Europe Committee. A report on the work of the honorary ambassadors for municipal development policy was given by former mayor Dr. Angelika Kordfelder. She is also a full member of the Europe Committee.