France/In Saint-Nazaire, a visit from the mayor of Avilés, a Spanish twinned town since 2003

Mariví Monteserín, the mayor of Avilés (Spain), spent three days visiting her twin town in Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique).

Two port and industrial towns, both facing the Atlantic Ocean, each with a population of over 70,000. The twinning that has united Saint-Nazaire (Loire-Atlantique) and Avilés, Spain, since 2003 is no coincidence.

This week's first visit to Saint-Nazaire by Socialist mayor Mariví Monteserín bears witness to this. "There are many issues our cities have in common, such as the future of our industrial ports, our desire to reduce CO2 production, or the green hydrogen production project", stresses the mayor, who also visited Saint-Nazaire. emphasizes the elected representative, who was a member of the Spanish Congress from 2004 to 2015.

Training young people, industrial innovation...

While Francoism on the one hand and Nazism on the other have left their mark on the history of both cities, the two mayors agree on other orientations, such as youth training, industrial innovation and technological and energy transformations.

Two years ago, the City of Saint-Nazaire signed the manifesto of the European network of the City of Avilés, which promotes sustainable industry. Céline Girard-Raffin, in charge of international cooperation and twinning, explains: "This visit will enable us to consolidate our cooperation in this area. It also concerns other projects.

A scholarship scheme

In addition to family exchanges, the twinning committees of the two towns are continuing to support youth associations, choirs, school and sports trips, and links between conservatories. " A scholarship scheme for young people has been set up to enable them to discover our twin towns in exchange for a structured project," notes town councillor Franck Horn. An application for the city of Avilés is due to be submitted shortly.

Source: saint-nazaire.maville.com