International Conference on Partnership and Cooperation May 25, 2009, Ush Ghurab
The event was well-attended by representatives of local community organizations, the representatives of the municipalities of Givors, Grigny, Romans, and Vaulx-en-Velin (France); and representatives from the Joint Council for Services, Planning and Development, Bethlehem B1 and Eastern Rural.
A superb PowerPoint presentation was made by Dr. Elias Rishmawi about the current political situation in the West Bank and its consequences on the residents, the economy, emigration and international relations.
The conference was chaired by Mayor Hani Al-Hayek. Translation from French to Arabic and vice versa was provided by Dr. Waleed Al Shomaly and Aimen Abuzuluf. |
On Monday May 25, 2009 Beit Sahour Municipality hosted the first annual International Conference on Partnership and Cooperation held at the newly renovated "cafeteria" in Ush Ghurab Municipal Peace Park.
The conference highlighted the cooperation project between the municipalities of Romans and Vaulx-en-Velin and Beit Sahour. Both of these French municipalities have twinning/friendship agreements which Beit Sahour Municipality has enjoyed since 1995 with Romans and 2006 with Vaulx-en-Velin. Beit Sahour Municipality hopes to pursue twinning/friendship agreements with the municipalities of Givors and Grigny in the near future. 
In addition, guests were encouraged to speak freely about specific needs, situations and goals concerning their organizations during the open discussion period.