General information» Ties of friendship
» General information
Ties of friendship
On 10 October 1991 a termless agreement on co-operation was signed between the country town of Tamsalu and Pedäjävesi Commune. According to the agreement the co-operation is based on contacts between governments and involves co-operation in the field of education, culture and sports. So far, contacts in the field of culture and education have been the closest; the two municipalities also work together in water economy and rescue service. The Lions Clubs of Tamsalu and Petäjavesi have well- established contacts. In May 2000 a representative from Petäjävesi Lions Club visited Tamsalu and gave a former "Finn-boy" a present from Pedäjävesi Lions Club.
SVENLJUNGA Commuune (the Kingdom of Sweden)
The first 5-year-long agreement on co-operation was signed on 5 September 1992 and foresaw mutual introductory and study visits, development of co-operation between entrepreneurs, promotion of contacts between schools, cultural societies and other groups of people. Foundation has been laid to co-operation between the farmers of Svenljunga and the rural municipality of Tamsalu. In 1999, the representatives of Svenljunga farmers visited Tamsalu twice and organised seminars to the local colleagues. In May 1999, 5 farmers from Tamsalu rural municipality made a one-week study trip to Svenljunga Commune. The project of co-operation between farmers continued in 2000 as well. A new 3-year agreement between the town of Tamsalu and Svenljunga Commune was signed in October 1999. In future, we would like to make better use of the partner's EU experience. In August 2000 the representatives of Svenljunga Commune paid a formal visit to Tamsalu. As a result, a joint international project i-COIN was started.
Nastola Commune (the Republic of Finland)
In 1996 a formal exchange of delegations took place and an open-ended contract on friendship relations was signed on 27 June1997. The two municipalities work together in the field of culture (Nastola Male Choir and Tamsalu Female Choir) and there are ties of friendship between the schools and local authorities. The rural municipality of Nastola supports the EU projects Tamsalu is involved in. In 1999, the representatives of Nastola municipal council and Commune government visited Tamsalu and the representatives of Tamsalu town council and government paid a visit to Nastola. The school canteen got kitchen equipment at favourable prices with the help of Nastola Commune. In May 2000 the representatives of Nastola took part in the cultural event the Tamsalu Days.
LYNGDAL Commune (the Kingdom of Norway)
The delegation of Lyngdal, consisting of 8 people (members of the municipal council and government) visited Tamsalu in May 1999. On 7 May 1999 an open-ended contract on friendship was signed between the town of Tamsalu and Lyngdal Commune, the aim of which is co-operation between schools, cultural societies, sports clubs, businessmen and local authorities. The representatives of Tamsalu town government and council visited Lyngdal in May 2000. During the visit the forms of co-operation and jointly organised events were specified and agreed upon.
Amt Rehna (the Federal Republic of Germany)
The official trilateral agreement on co-operation was signed between Svenljunga Commune, Amt Rehna and the town of Tamsalu in 2003. Rehna is located on the Hamburg - Berlin motorway in the federal state of Mecklenburg - Vorpommern and is an entrance to a biosphere protection area. It belongs to the same economic area as Lübeck and Schwerin. There are 14 municipalities in the Amt (total population 9700). The seat of the Amt is in Rehna (2700 people). The most important tourist attraction of Rehna is the medieval monastery. Tourism plays an important role in the economic development of the area. The EU projects focus on agriculture and nature conservation. Tamsalu and Rehna are working on a joint international project
i-COIN.
Hohenfelde (the Federal Republic of Germany) Friendship relations with Hohenfelde Commune began in 1997 when a group of people involved in culture visited Plön. In 1999 the representatives of the municipality visited Plön and Hohenfelde to celebrate the anniversary of the ties of friendship between the county of Lääne Virumaa and Plön. During the visit plans for further co-operation were discussed and it was concluded that it should be focused on the youth. The friendship commune gave Tamsalu municipality a sum of money as a token of friendship, which was used to equip two classrooms in Vajangu Basic School. To show their interest in co-operation, young footballers from Hohenfelde were invited to visit Tamsalu. In 2006 the young footballers from Tamsalu visited their friends in Germany. A meeting of the youth will take place in Tamsalu in 2008.
The Republic of Finland Tamsalu Rural Municipality has ties of friendship with the following communes: Ruukki, Siikajoki, Rantsila, Pulkkila Piippola, Pyhäntä and Kestila. The first visit by the representatives of the above mentioned communes took place in October 1998 during which an agreement on co-operation and friendship was signed. Since then smaller and bigger events have taken place. Young people from Kestila took part in the music festival in Porkuni in 1999. Our representatives visited Finland in the summer of 1998 and could have an insight into the entrepreneurship of the commune. The visit in the spring 2001 served the same goal. The delegation consisted of entrepreneurs, and the mayor of the rural municipality. The co-operation with the Finnish communes comprises cultural exchange and sharing information on the development of entrepreneurship. Together with Ruukki and Raahe regions there is an international project EKIE. Within the project EKIE the following establishments are involved in the co-operation:
- CENTRIA Research and Development (Oulu, Finland),
- Ylivieska Technology Park (Ylivieska, Finland),
- University of Oulu,
- Oulu Southern Institute (Oulu, Finland),
- National University of Ireland Galway (Galway, Ireland),
- Údarás na Gaeltachta (Galway, Ireland),
- SVIM - Sviluppo Marche SpA (Marche Development) (Ancona, Italy).
Establishments involved in the project i-COIN:
- Kymenlaakson Ammattikorkeakoulu (Kotka, Finland),
- NordDanmarks EU-kontor (Aalborg, Denmark),
- Cities on Internet Association (Tarnow, Poland),
- EUCC Baltic Office (Klaipeda, Lithuania),
- EU-office for Landkreis Osterholz (Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Germany),
- University College of Borås (Borås, Sweden).
