Statements: Dr. Lutz Trümper
The city partnership of Magdeburg, the state capital of Saxony-Anhalt, with Nashville, Tennessee is a very concrete contribution to processes of global development. This city partnership will also strengthen appreciation for democracy, for the living situation in our cities and for the diversity of cultures, languages and views. Since 1998 there have been encounters between the residents of both cities with exchanges of official delegations, contacts between schools, universities, non-profit organizations, museums and other cultural institutions. Since then numerous joint events have taken place and personal friendships have already developed.
With their resolutions in 2001 and 2002, both the city council of the state capital Magdeburg and the metropolitan council of Nashville have smoothed the way for a city partnership. I am delighted that the German-American Dialog Center Magdeburg’s bilingual Internet presence now makes it possible to promote the city partnership beyond the Atlantic and it is my personal wish that this forum will link all partners, friends, supporters and interested parties in mutual exchange and that new contacts will be able to be successfully established.
Links between individuals are promoted above all by associations in which citizens are involved. The German-American Dialog Center has been making an important contribution to transatlantic contacts since the year 2000. I would like to call upon the residents of Magdeburg to take part in the exchange with the people of Nashville and I very warmly welcome all users on these Internet pages. Apart from new business contacts, we also want to strengthen this bridge with an expanded cultural exchange between Nashville and Magdeburg. Theater festivals, cultural days and educational and scholastic transfer will help produce enduring contacts between associations, cultural institutions and schools.
I look forward to future encounters in Magdeburg and Nashville.
Dr. Lutz Trümper
Lord Mayor of Magdeburg
