The Courier

“If each local authority with its (however limited) resources decided to twin itself with a town, a municipality, a district, a province or a region in the South, the world would be changed and poverty would decrease rapidly,” writes EU Commissioner for Development, Louis Michel, in an open letter, dated 16 June, to local authorities throughout the EU’s 27 Member States. 

The letter urges EU local authorities with plans of making ties with a partner in the South, to sign a ‘twinning convenant’ at the European Commission’s annual European Development Days (EDD) event in Strasbourg, France, November 15-17. The central theme of EDD 2008 is ‘local authorities and development.’ 

Many local authorities EU-wide already have such twinning arrangements where successful projects have been mounted at very little cost. 

Local authorities with such twinning plans and interested in sealing their commitment at the EDD event, can submit their proposal before 20 September to the European Commission: devtwinning@ec.europa.eu