Charles Tjatindi
5 September 2008
Swakopmund — The Municipality of Swakopmund has in recent years entered into twinning agreements with a number of towns and cities around the globe for exchange in expertise on technology, culture and tourism amongst others.
The agreements have benefited the town in areas of local economic development, waste management, town planning, service delivery, human resources development and information on other issues of common interest.
Currently, the town of Swakopmund is considering twinning agreements with the Chinese towns of Tainjin and Yiwu, Florianopolis (Brazil) and most recently with Malmö (Sweden).
Malmö is the third largest city of Sweden, situated in the south of Sweden with 277 000 inhabitants of which 47 percent are youth. The Swedish town has for the past 15 years undergone transition from being an industrial city to a city of knowledge, where older industries have been replaced by investments in new technology and training programmes of high caliber.
In June 2008, a delegation from Malmö paid a visit to Swakopmund to cement cooperation ties. A reciprocal visit is being arranged by the Municipality of Swakopmund to visit Malmö. The high-powered delegation from the Swakopmund Municipality will be led by Mayor Germina Shitaleni at the end of next month.
The delegation will include the town council's Chief Executive Officer, Eckart Demasius, and other senior members of the municipality. Demasius told New Era that the municipality hopes to formalize ties with their Swedish counterparts during the planned visit, which will pave the way for a larger scope of working relations between the two.
"Our aim with twinning agreements is project based. We form such link with emphasis on certain projects, and not just for the sake of twinning. We hope to achieve good results from the Swedish trip," he said. The resort town of Sharm El Sheik in Egypt with whom the Municipality of Swakopmund signed a twinning agreement recently, received extensive media coverage in view of the African Union (AU) summit in June 2008.
Locally, Swakopmund has entered into cooperation agreements with towns such as Walvis Bay and Okakarara.
Swakopmund's strategic location coupled with sound business climate, and its image as a tourist hub, places it in a favourable position with the outside world, hence the twinning agreements.
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