International work and strategy

Riesa

Rotherham has a Partnership Agreement with Riesa in Germany. Riesa lies on the River Elbe, close to the Polish and Czech borders in a traditionally steel-making region. The town has 38,000 inhabitants and hosts many sporting events and music concerts.

The Partnership Agreement between Rotherham and Riesa was signed on May 1 1998 to promote opportunities for economic, education, sports and cultural projects. Several joint projects have since taken place, including:

• Visits by the Rotherham Schools' Music Service
• Participation in the annual dragon boat race in Riesa
• Reciprocal visits between Wentworth Brewery and HammerBräu Brewery
• Ongoing work experience programme of Riesa students working at ALcontrol laboratories at Templeborough
• Two English language courses organised in conjuction with Wath Comprehensive for Riesa business professionals

Visit the Riesa website (German only):  http://www.riesa.de/

Zabrze

Zabrze is situated in southern Poland, a town with a population of 195,000 located in Silesia Province (Silesian Voivodship).  It is mostly a coal-mining area, and shares borders with Slovakia and the Czech Republic.

A co-operation agreement was signed between Rotherham and Zabrze on 19 July 2007 with the aim of promoting and supporting social, economic and cultural development in the following areas:

• Commerce and industry
• Improvement of municipal and communal administration
• Town planning and development of infrastructure
• Health care and organisation of health services
• Science and education
• Culture, sport and tourism
  

Since July 2007 there have been reciprocal visits to explore the potential of collaborative projects, and discussions are underway to set up a youth exchange and sporting links.

Zabrze is easy to access due to its close proximity to Katowice and Krakow airports; both are around an hour's drive.  Budget flights are available from Doncaster Sheffield airport to Katowice.

Cluj-Napoca

Cluj-Napoca is situated in northwestern Romania, in the historic region of Transylvania.  It is Romania's third largest city and an important academic, cultural and economic centre, as well as the seat of Cluj county.

During an official visit to Cluj-Napoca in October 2006, partnership agreements were signed between Rotherham and the town of Cluj-Napoca and the Cluj Regional Office Antidrug Prevention.

Links have been in place between the Council's Social Services and Cluj-Napoca for a number of years and it is planned to develop this contact to include a wider range of projects including issues of health, social assistance, education, art, culture, sport and business.

Budget flights are now operating from Luton airport direct to Cluj, making access much easier.