28 October 2004
Officials of Netherlands' Coevorden visit Brest
A group of officials from Coevorden, in the Netherlands, paid a visit to Brest earlier this week to revive contacts between the communities and explore local opportunities for investment.
The delegation's stay in the southwestern provincial center concluded with a meeting with senior Brest government officials on Tuesday.
The sides discussed ways to promote the exchange of expertise in local self-government and infrastructure development and contacts between branch agencies and businesses. "We have high interest in their expertise in planting green areas and supplying the population with
vegetables," Nadezhda Yashchuk, head of the Brest city council, told BelaPAN.
She said that both cities could benefit from closer ties between health establishments, development and law-enforcement agencies, life-saving organizations and creative groups. Coevorden Mayor Bert Bouwmeester expressed interest in boosting rail transit through Brest, promising to send a business mission to the city to study investment conditions in the local enterprise zone. The delegation visited Brest's university, which maintains contacts with the Drenthe province in the Netherlands, home to Coevorden, to discuss students exchange and the funding of research projects. The guests took a tour of the city, visiting its landmark old fortress and World War II memorial before leaving
Brest. Brest and Coevorden signed an agreement on cooperation back in 2000, but contacts have been slow due to various reasons, such as a change of government in the Dutch city.
http://brestonline.com/en/news/news534.html