Rheine. Consul General Lídia Nabais met Mayor Dr. Peter Lüttmann at Rheiner City Hall for her inaugural visit (we reported). She was appointed Consul General of Portugal, which is based in Düsseldorf, two years ago. Due to the pandemic, a visit was unfortunately not possible at that time. Peter Lüttmann was very pleased about the official visit and the renewed personal meeting, after all Rheine has an important Portuguese community. The first meeting took place in the context of the celebration of the 25th town twinning anniversary Rheine-Leiria already in the year 2021. In the focus of the current exchange was first the town twinning between Leiria and Rheine, therefore Reiner Wellmann, chairman of the town twinning association, participated gladly. According to Nabais, Rheine is one of only six cities in North Rhine-Westphalia that maintain a partnership with a Portuguese city. According to her, however, this partnership is all the more lively. This can be seen, among other things, in the current exchange of interns between the partners. Through the intermediary of the city and the twinning association, young people and young adults are spending several months testing their skills in various Rheiner companies.
Further topics were current information from Leiria, which was selected recently as sport city as well as current projects in the city Rheine. Lüttmann informed in this connection in particular about the development of the city center, the urban housing offensive and the numerous new and rebuildings of and at Rheiner schools. The Consul General was particularly impressed by Bentlage’s cultural diversity and special appeal.In conclusion, everyone expressed their desire and endeavor to maintain and intensify the good relations and friendly contacts.