Twin Cities
The cities of Västerås, Ålesund, Lahti, Akureyri, Jelenia Góra and Randers are twin cities.
City Twinning has been around since the first contacts were made immediately after the Second World War.
The core of city twinning is to contribute to the promotion of intercultural understanding and respect across borders. This approach helps to build trust and understanding of each other’s cultures. It is used as a doorway to new knowledge and new partners that benefits the local citizens and businesses as well as all municipal subject areas.
Specifically, the twin cities give cooperation in the form of an annual liaison meeting of mayors and chief executives and an annual Nordic Friendship Week (Nordisk vänortsvecka för ungdom – NOVU) for young people in the Nordic countries.
NOVU
NOVU Week is held alternately in each twin city. The week gives 100 young people the opportunity to be acquainted with different Nordic cultures, make new friendships across language and culture differences and improve their skills in specific areas.
This week also involves politicians and officials from each city. Their program reflects current issues in areas such as children's culture, library services, urban development, etc.
Twin Cities
The city names below contain links to the cities’ websites with information on the cities and surrounding areas:
You can see them on the map as well: