Mayor of twin city Timbuktu expected in Chemnitz
Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig receives her counterpart Halle Ousmane for talks and an exchange of ideas Visit from 19 to 26 March - round of talks in the town hall
Mayor Halle Ousmane and his advisor Assoura Albadia are expected to arrive at Tegel Airport in Berlin on Tuesday afternoon (19 March). The first official item on the programme in Chemnitz will be a tour of the city in the afternoon.
On Wednesday (20 March), the programme includes a morning visit to the company "Elicon" with information on the use of solar energy, followed by a tour of properties with solar systems in the Chemnitz district of Wittgensdorf and at the ASC. During a city tour in the afternoon, the guests will further familiarise themselves with Chemnitz - stops include the Schlossberg Museum, the TIETZ building and Chemnitz Town Hall, including a tour of the town hall.
On Thursday morning (21 March), the guests from Timbuktu will visit the Chemnitz school model and meet with Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig and Mayor Berthold Brehm at noon for an official meeting in the council chamber. The joint lunch will also be attended by the chairmen of the city council groups and Bernd Aschauer, spokesman for the Chemnitz-Timbuktu town twinning association. On Thursday evening from 6 p.m., a public discussion on the problems in Mali and Timbuktu will take place in the city council chamber of the town hall: Moderated by Pastor Christoph Magirius, the panellists will be Mayor Ousmane and his advisor Albadia and Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig.
On Friday (22 March), the programme includes a visit to the VW engine plant in Chemnitz in the morning and a tour of the botanical gardens in the afternoon. Here the guests from the twin city will also meet with members of the Chemnitz - Timbuktu Association, who will also be organising the rest of the day. In the evening, at 7 pm, the guests are expected to attend an event in the "Club of Cultures" at Chemnitz University of Technology.
On Saturday (23 March), the guests from Timbuktu will visit various Chemnitz sports facilities in the morning, watch artistic gymnasts and boxers training at the Sportforum and visit the indoor swimming pool and athletics hall. The afternoon will be available for an excursion to the Chemnitz region and Sunday (24 March) for a full-day trip to Dresden. A visit to the Chemnitz Chamber of Crafts is planned for Monday (24 March) in the morning and a visit to the Vocational School for Crafts II in the early afternoon.
A packed programme also awaits the guests from Timbuktu on Tuesday (26 March), which is also the day of departure in the late afternoon: in the morning, the mayor and his advisor will visit Karl-Schmidt-Rottluff-Gymnasium and take part in a lesson with Class 7d and a Year 11 class. As with the Chemnitz school model, the topic of a school twin town will be discussed with pupils and teachers. Finally, Tuesday afternoon is reserved for a visit to Chemnitz University of Technology: Here, Mayor Halle Ousmane and his advisor Assoura Albadia will be received for talks by TU Rector Arnold van Zyl.
Contact and contact person for the media:
The guests from Timbuktu will be looked after by the Mayor's Office of the City of Chemnitz - the contact person in the Protocol and Town Twinning Department is Reiner Gehlhar, call 0371/488-1520, e-mail: Reiner.Gehlhar@Stadt-Chemnitz.de
During their stay in Chemnitz, the guests will also be accompanied by Marcel Maiga, a Malian citizen living in Berlin who also works for the Malian embassy.
The contact person at the Chemnitz-Timbuktu Town Twinning Association is Bernd Aschauer, spokesperson for the organisation, on 0371 / 725 08 68 or by email at partner.chemnitz-timbuktu@web.de.
Important note for media scheduling: Please note that not all of the Chemnitz appointments of the Mayor of Timbuktu are open to the press. Therefore, please contact the protocol department in good time for your scheduling and participation.
Appeal to the people of Chemnitz: donations for the twin city of Timbuktu
Last year, Mayor Barbara Ludwig appealed for donations to help 15 million African people who were threatened by famine following an extreme drought. Mali and Chemnitz's twin city Timbuktu were also affected. Now that the situation has deteriorated further as a result of political events, Chemnitz is once again appealing for donations for its African twin city (see also PM 57 from 13 February 2013): Donations for Timbuktu can be paid into the City of Chemnitz donation account: account no.: 350 100 9282, sort code: 870 50 000 - reason for payment: 1111100.50111000 Timbuktu.
Timbuktu and Chemnitz, then Karl-Marx-Stadt, have been twinned since 1968 - here is the link to the information on www.chemnitz.de: http://www.chemnitz.de/chemnitz/de/die-stadt-chemnitz/partnerstaedte/timbuktu/