Lutsk unveils a signpost honoring partner-cities (2010-08-22)
On the 22nd of August as part of the celebration of the 925th anniversary of Lutsk, representatives from eight foreign cities participated in the unveiling of the commemorative signpost of partnership at the corner of Lesya Ukrainka and Senatorky Levchanivskoyi Streets. The celebration was attended by delegations from almost all partner-cities of Lutsk: Lublin, Olsztyn, Rzeszów, Toruń, Zamość (all in Poland); Brest (Belarus Republic); Gori (Georgia); and Trakai (Lithuania).

«The Climate Change - the Challenge for Europe!» (2010-08-04)

“The climate change – the challenge for Europe” – the 15th annual international camp “Youth for peace” was established under this motto. This year it was arranged in the suburbs of small German town Gottingen. Six pupils from Lutsk schools together with the Gottingen’s youth of sister cities i.e. Wittenberg (Germany), Po (France) and Torun (Poland) attended the camp for the first time. The camp participants met the Gottingen deputy mayor Ulrih Holeflaish, who represents the Green Party. They discussed the ecological situation, which occurred in Europe. By the way, aching about the enhancement of our planet, Mr. Ulrih moved from the car to the bicycle. His initiative was followed by the thousands of other town’s citizens.

In the camp the representatives of each country had the opportunity to introduce their own town, to inform about ecological catastrophes, which happen on the territory of that country part, where they live and to discuss the cases of their appearance. The camp participants attended the museum of bread and the “Volkswagen” plant in Wolfsburg, where in Car town they got wise to car manufacturing history and the opportunity of “green car” creating, tried out the summer sledding and rock crafting and visited also the “Feno” research centre, where they had the opportunity to try out many physical and chemical tests.

Next year the camp will be held in the city Torun (Poland).

Ambassador of Lithuania in Lutsk (2010-07-16)

Lutsk Mayor Bohdan Shyba had a meeting with a delegation from Lithuania. Piatras Vaitiekunas, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary,  was at the head of the delegation. During the meeting both sides discussed an opportunity of cooperation in different spheres. In particular, the mayor mentioned that he is interested in developing close relations with Lithuania in both cultural and economic spheres.

The Ambassador of Lithuania  Piatras Vaitiekunas said that his country is also interested in cooperation with Ukraine and in attraction of Lithuanian investments in our economy. A foreign guest supposes that Lithuania as a member of European Union can also share the experience of euro integration. In his opinion Ukraine will have to go through the same way as Lithuania did at the proper time. Lutsk Mayor agreed with such opinion and stressed that our country is counting on support from Lithuania. 

Piatras Vaitiekunas stressed in his turn that Lithuania is ready to share her experience of standardization and certification of products according to European samples. Also, he offered to develop cooperation in the sphere of waste processing, in particular waste processing of meat processing plant. Afterwards, the offer to organize the conference on economic issues and hold it in Lutsk was suggested. The deputy mayor Petro Hotsaliuk mentioned that our city as well as the other cities of Ukraine are interested in exchange of experience in the sphere of housing and public utilities, support of the association of co-owners of block-of-flats. Lutsk city mayor Bohdan Shyba stressed that housing and public utilities are in a bad state in Ukraine and slow down the possible integration into European Union. Besides, Bogdan Shyba mentioned that our city is interested in household waste processing. And an experience of Baltic partners is urgent.

In conclusion, the sides agreed to hold a conference on economic issues in Lutsk and to send specialists of housing and public utilities to Lithuania. As was settled before, Lutsk delegation will visit Trakai city in September this year. In August last year the Protocol of Intentions about cooperation was signed between two cities. Thus, the Ambassador of Lithuania promised to assist in realizing these intensions by signing an agreement about fellowship between Lutsk and Trakai.    

 

Lutsk is Developing Lithuanian-Ukrainian Cooperation (2010-07-14)

From the 4^th until the 7^th of July for the invitation of the Lithuanian public organization  the representative of Lutsk City Council participated in the project “Grunwald Battle Echo − 2010”. This project was financed by the Lithuanian Foreign Affairs Department.

During the visit to Lithuania the participants of the project, namely the representatives of local self-government, higher educational establishments, Ukrainian, Russian and Lithuanian public organizations learned about the territory peculiarities, which are protected in Lithuania, development of recreational infrastructure in state forestry, functioning of the country estate, so called “green tourism”.

Moreover the project participants visited the festival of experimental archeology “The Days of Live Archeology in Kiarnav, they took part in celebrations on the 600^th anniversary of the Grunwald Battle. The participants also visited the Trakai Castle in the city Trakai. In August, last year Trakai and Lutsk signed the protocol of intentions about their cooperation.

In the end of the meeting the project participants visited the Lithuanian Seym, where they met the Seym members and other officials. Together they made conclusions about their 4-day staying in Lithuania and suggested further steps for future cooperation between Lithuania, Belarus and Russia. It’s necessary to mention that this project is a continuation of the Lithuanian last year project «The Way of the Great Vitautas in Lutsk».

When the meeting was over Lina Ostapchuk, the specialist of the Foreign and Project Activity Department, presented the invitation from Lutsk city mayor Bohdan Shyba to the representatives of the partner city Trakai to join celebrations on the occasin of 925^th anniversary of Lutsk.

The Visit of Lutsk Delegation to Partner-City in China (2010-07-02)

From the 19^th until the 27^th of June a delegation from Lutsk visited the city-partner Xiangtan (China). The Ukrainian guests also participated in the 10^th Forum of City-Partners Cooperation, which was held in the city of Changsha.

During this visit the deputy mayor Anatoliy Parhom`yuk met with the deputy mayor of Xiangtan Jou Funglang. They discussed further steps of cooperation between the two cities. The participants of the delegation also visited the technological zone which contains the biggest enterprises of the city. The delegation from Lutsk became acquainted with the unique practices by which the zone functions and with innovative cooperative relationships with other organizations. The guests also visited the motor vehicle plant «Geely», wind generator plant, etc.

In the city of Changsha the delegation from Lutsk took part in the 10^th Forum of City-Partners Cooperation. 200 guests from 23 countries visited this meeting. During the Forum the participants were working on different issues: tourism development, university cooperation, business contact development, etc. Then all the participants of the Forum planted a tree on the city-partners lane in one of the new districts of Changsha.

At the end of the meeting the deputy mayor of Lutsk Anatoliy Parhom`yuk invited the representatives of the city-partner Xiangtan to celebrate the 925^th anniversary of Lutsk.

Peace Corps Volunteer will be Working in Lutsk City Council (2010-06-22)

Tatiana Lenartovych, the chief of the Foreign and Project Activities Department of Lutsk City Council, informed that Terry Mattison, Peace Corps volunteer, will be working in Lutsk City Council for 2 years. He will get acquainted with the work of local government, cooperate with public organizations, and universities. Terry Mattison mentioned that he hopes to borrow experience from the Ukrainian colleagues and share his knowledge with them.

Reference: Peace Corps was founded in 1960 when Senator John Kennedy called for students of the University of Michigan to promote peace in the world living and working in other countries. In such a way the US government, which deals with the strengthening of peace and friendship among the countries of the world, was found. On September 22, 1961 US Congress  adopted the Law on the Peace Corps on the territory of Ukraine. U.S. Peace Corps in Ukraine was founded in 1992, when the Ukrainian President Leonid Kravchuk and U.S. President George Bush signed a bilateral agreement on establishing the Peace Corps in Ukraine.

 

Torun`s Angels of World Heritage (2010-06-21)

Informal Youth Group "Torun`s Angels of World Heritage" presented some promotional and educational tools of the project entitled “Torun`s Angels of World Heritage”, which was executed recently by the young citizens of Torun, Poland, as a part of European Union Programme – Youth in Action – Action 1.2. National Youth Initiative. This project was officially supported by the President of Torun City.  All of the events organized for the needs of this project were held in the area of the medieval Old Town Complex of Torun, which was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List, on December 4, 1997. The project was addressed to the youth discovering World Heritage in Torun – the natal city of a great astronomer – Nicolaus Copernicus. Its results are reflected in the following publications:

1.                              Cartoon entitled “The Adventure of Young Copernicus” – presenting the potential of the City of Torun and local problems concerning its heritage protection;

2.                              “Torun`s cultural route” – youth, touristic map presenting world cultural heritage of Torun;

3.                              “Torun`s natural route” – youth, touristic map presenting world natural heritage of Torun.

4.                               

All of these publications are distributed to nearly 200 cities all over the world, which historical city centers are – like Torun`s one – inscribed on prestigious UNESCO List. They are also shown in their electronic version on project`s website: www.torun-dziedzictwo.eu (see bookmark – “Visit Torun with us”).

Lutsk Cross-Border Initiations (2010-06-17)

The final meeting of the strategic cooperation Lutsk-Lublin-Lviv-Ivano-Frankivsk took place in Lutsk City Council within the project “The European Project Cooperation Standarts in Realization of Cross-Border initiatives of Lutsk and Lublin”. The participants of the meeting were Anatoliy Parkhom`yuk, Lutsk deputy mayor, Vasyl Kosiv, Lviv deputy mayor, Krzysztof Lontka, the