Tampere honours good partnership with award
Employee of the mayor's office receives medal of merit
Since his first visit in 1990, Andreas Liese, an employee of the Mayor's Office, has been enthusiastic about the Finnish twin city of Tampere. He is the first point of contact in the city of Chemnitz for his colleagues in Finland when contacts need to be made and projects realised. Even in his spare time, he has repeatedly campaigned in favour of the Finns and founded the German-Finnish Society, for example. The city of Tampere has now honoured him with the Gold Medal of Merit.
"With all the work that had to be done over two decades, it was also a pleasure to be able to work with such good partners. I learnt a lot from my colleagues in Tampere. And the fact that I am now a convinced European has been helped by this wonderful and interesting work," says Andreas Liese about his 22 years of experience with the Finnish city.
The award will be presented as part of Tampere Day on 1 October in Tampere City Hall. On this day, the Finnish twin city celebrates its birthday every year. It was founded on 1 October 1779 by the Swedish King Gustav III.
Chemnitz has been twinned with Tampere for the longest time. The two cities have been working together since 1961 and have many parallels in terms of urban history. For example, both cities have been strongly characterised by the textile industry and mechanical engineering in recent decades. As part of the Chemnitz - Tampere town twinning, there is a very lively exchange of athletes, artists and experts from a wide range of fields such as administration, transport and work with senior citizens as well as joint EU projects. The research institutions of the two cities maintain varied and lively relations.
Contact for questions: Andreas Liese, Mayor's Office of the City of Chemnitz, phone 0371/488-1523, e-mail: Andreas.Liese@Stadt-Chemnitz.de