Five years ago, a delegation from German city Esslingen was in Coimbatore to strengthen the relationship between the two cities and Esslingen Coimbatore Association (Esscom) was formed.
On Monday, a 17-member delegation from Esslingen, led by its Mayor Jurgen Zieger started its four-day visit to the city.
And, the objective during this visit is to firm up ties between the two cities in areas such as student exchange and take steps to have a formal agreement so that Coimbatore and Esslingen become twin cities.
An agreement was signed between Esscom and Esslingen as an initial step.
“This is the second step. The first step was formation of Esscom five years ago. We are looking forward for a city level contract. When we sign a formal contract, Esslingen and Coimbatore become twin cities. Our interest is to develop our town twining activities. Our oldest relationship is with a French town with which we became a twin city 55 years ago. Esslingen has nine twin cities in Europe and one in the U.S.,” Mr. Zieger told The Hindu on Monday.
The delegation includes representatives of various political parties in the council, universities, schools, industry, and the local media and artists.
Major areas of interest where Esslingen and Coimbatore can work together are: pupil exchange at school and university-level, waste water treatment, drinking water supply and energy.
School students from Coimbatore and Esslingen have already gone on student exchange visits where the local families host them.
“The average age of the students was 14 years. We are interested in developing this,” he said.
It is necessary for the students to know about different countries, cultures, religions and social situations.
To be economically successful, good education is essential and it gives the students social and inter-cultural competitiveness.
Esslingen, which has a population of 90,000 and is located in south Germany, is also focusing on reduction of carbon emission. It aims to reduce carbon emission by 20 per cent to 25 per cent by 2020 in different fields – housing, heating, traffic and industry.
“We started in 2009 and so far realised 13 per cent. We also generate energy from renewable sources for 20,000 people and want to extend it to 45,000 people in Esslingen by 2020, he said.
“In our twin city circuit in Europe, energy is a topic we discuss regularly,” he said. With twin city, there will be exchange of knowledge and experience to find solutions to various issues.
Esslingen can help Coimbatore in town planning, health and social problems and water cleaning, he added.
Major areas of interest where Esslingen and Coimbatore can work together are: pupil exchange at school and university-level, waste water treatment, drinking water supply and energy
