Famalicão and Zhytomyr will become "twin-towns". The cooperation protocol was approved, today, in a city council meeting, and will be celebrated during the celebrations of the City Day of Vila Nova de Famalicão, by the mayors of Famalicão and Zhytomyr, Mário Passos and Serhiy Sukhomlyn, respectively.
The sharing of information, ideas and programmes that contribute to the sustainable and harmonious development of both cities, as well as mutual aid for economic development and solidarity between peoples, are some of the purposes of the protocol.
"It is an agreement with a strong symbolism and that is why we wanted to include it in the celebrations of the City Day. It reflects Famalicão's openness to the world, in the sense of giving and receiving knowledge and experiences, and also the solidary dimension of its community, placing us next to a community that lives dramatic days that we cannot ignore", says Mário Passos.
This international cooperation follows the availability expressed by the City Council of Famalicão to the Embassy of Ukraine in Portugal, in strengthening ties of friendship and cooperation with a Ukrainian city as a constructive form of solidarity.
The city of Zhytomyr is located 135 Km from the capital, Kiev, an important industrial centre and warehouse, where the most important road and railway routes heading west intersect, being on the route connecting the Ukrainian capital with Warsaw (Poland) and Minsk (Belarus).
Just like Famalicão, Zhytomyr has been establishing itself as a Smart City, with sustainability being one of its main aims. With about 264 thousand inhabitants, its economy is based on the services sector and on industry, where the food industry, mechanical engineering, metalworking, pharmaceutical, footwear, textiles, furniture and the construction of musical instruments, namely the accordion.
One of the first actions of the protocol will be the replication, in Famalicão, of a solidarity-sporting event, organised by Zhytomyr, in favour of Ukrainian children and youngsters victims of war atrocities, which will take place on August 13, the starting date of the new school year in Ukraine. On that day, Famalicão will hold a solidarity walk with the same objective.
