Lord Mayor of Dublin Caroline Conroy has signed an agreement to begin a twinning process with the Ukrainian capital city Kyiv.
The Lord Mayor and the First Deputy Head of the Kyiv City State, Mykola Povoroznyk, signed the Dublin Kyiv Twinning Agreement during the Lord Mayor’s visit to the 2022 Kyiv Investment Forum in Brussels.
The signing of the document gives effect to the emergency motion passed at the Dublin City Council meeting of March 7th this year to express the solidarity of the people of Dublin with the people of Kyiv.
Lord Mayor Conroy said, “I am delighted that we can now officially begin the process of twinning with the city of Kyiv. I met with Mykola Povoroznyk today and conveyed to him the support of the people of Dublin. I know everyone in Dublin, and indeed across the country, hopes that this unjust war will be brought to an end as soon as possible. Our thoughts are with our friends in Kyiv.”
Following today’s signing, the two cities will work on ways in which the city of Dublin can express its solidarity with the people of Kyiv and how it will support the Irish Government in its humanitarian work with refugees from Kyiv.
The two cities will work together on identifying areas where they can strengthen and develop common interests and solutions to challenges.
The agreement between Kyiv and Dublin includes the "wish for development and fruitful cooperation in a wide range of economic, cultural, tourism and other areas of mutual benefit".
"They will together promote European values of democracy, freedom and human rights and will promote peaceful coexistence in Europe," the agreement states.
The two cities will also endeavour to provide mutual support in emergency situations by providing humanitarian assistance and political support.
Legislative basis for Twinning
The setting up of a Twinning agreement is a reserved function of a Local Authority and is agreed by the elected members under section 75 of the Local Government Act 2001.
"The signing of a formal Twinning agreement facilitates the setting up of a long term, trusting relationship. Its form and content are not fixed and may be amended depending on the specific nature of the partnership that is being set up according to partners’ wishes. Twinning can seek to strengthen or develop common interests or express solidarity between the people of the two cities. There may be opportunities to work on problem solving or develop innovative solutions with partners around key challenges."
