The second of the TWIN Study Visit Program, prepared with the aim to increase knowledge and experience in town twinning, took place on 23-27 September 2019 in Poland. Ministry of Foreign Affairs Directorate for EU Affairs, Union of Municipalities of Turkey, Union of Provinces, Ministry of Environment and Urbanization, Directorate-General for Local Authorities and representatives from various provinces of Turkey participated to the five-day long study visit.
Turkish Embassy in Warsaw
The program began with the visit of the TWIN delegation to the Turkish Embassy in Warsaw. During the visit, Ambassador Tunc Üğdül informed the delegation about the commercial and cultural relations between Turkey and Poland.
Warsaw Municipality
The delegation started the second day of the program with a visit to the Warsaw Municipality. Pawel Rabiej, Deputy Mayor of Municipality of Warsaw, shared Municipality's experiences with the delegation regarding town twinning. Mr. Pawel Rabiej also shared short examples of their collaboration with London and common problems with the participants. Afterwards, the delegation was given a presentation about clean energy, environmental and intercity transportation issues organized by Municipality of Warsaw.
Legionowo Municipality
The second visit of the day was made to Legionowo Municipality, about 30 km from Warsaw. During this visit, the Mayor, Roman Smogorzewski informed the delegation about education and infrastructure projects of the Municipality. Later on, the delegation examined the projects together with site visits.
Sokołów-Podlaski Municipality
On the third day of the TWIN Study Visits Program, the delegation visited Sokołów-Podlaski Municipality, 100 km from Warsaw. Mayor Boguslaw Karakula welcomed the delegation and after receiving information about municipality's activities, the delegation examined the old sugar factory located in the industrial area of Sokołów-Podlaski, which is converted for sustainable education and social events, the old train station which is being used as a library, and the Sokołów-Podlaski water treatment plant, providing services in such areas as waste storage, sewage and heating.
Grodzisk-Mazowiecki Municipality
On the fourth day of the program, the delegation visited the Grodzisk-Mazowiecki Municipality and received information from the Deputy Mayor Tomasz Krupski about the Municipality's ‘Coastal Cities Network’ and the ‘NGO Cooperation Program.’
Piaseczno Municipality
On the last day of TWIN Study Visits Program the delegation visited the Piaseczno Municipality, which was the last visit of the program where ideas on “European Green Cities” were exchanged with the Mayor of Piaseczno, Daniel Putkiewicz and other municipal staff. The delegation then examined on-site projects carried out by the municipality to examine good examples. Poland study visit which started on 23 September 2019 and lasted for 5 days, ending on 27 September 2019 as the delegation returned to Turkey.