The Polish-German Committee was established in 1996 to coordinate activities carried out with our western neighbour. It's members are representatives of the German Section of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions CEMR and the Association of Polish Cities. The representatives of Łódź have been participating in the sessions for many years, but for the first time it was Łódź that hosted this year's meeting.
The meeting in Łódź was opened by the Minister Plenipotentiary of the German Embassy in Warsaw, His Excellency Mr. Knut Abraham and the President of the City of Łódź, Mrs Hanna Zdanowska. The Chairman of the City Council in Łódź, Mr. Marcin Gołaszewski, chaired the Group's meetings in cooperation with Stephan Loewl, the Mayor of Dachau and Mr. Piotr Głowski, the President of Piła and the Chairman of the Polish Section.
The topics of this year's Meeting were Revitalization, Multiculturalism, but also matters that local governments now live in, such as the fight against Covid, including helping entrepreneurs and equal treatment of all citizens regardless of their orientation. Representatives of the City of Łódź Office of the Revitalization and Housing Office, the Department of Ecology and Climate, Department of Health and Social Affairs, Director Szymon Kostrzewski and the Office of Economic Development and International Cooperation, Vice Director Mateusz Sipa prepared thematic presentations and took part in discussions with the participants of the Meeting from Poland and Germany. Mrs. Joanna Podolska, Director of the r Marek Edelmann Dialogue Centre in Łódź talked about the history of multicultural Łódź and the continuation of this tradition in the local government of Łódź. The representative of Saarpfalz-Kreis, Dr. Theophil Gallo, also held a speech on this subject.
The meeting will end with a protocol officially prepared and signed by both parties, and the next meeting is scheduled for spring 2021 in Germany, in the Saar-Pfalz-Kreis. At the end, participants of the meeting had the opportunity to watch the film "A Walk around Łódź" prepared especially for this occasion by the guide Mrs. Justyna Tomaszewska.
The movie can be watched at: www.youtube.com/watch
