City Partnerships

City Partnerships brings people from different regions and countries together, people get to know each other, work together and build friendships. As enemies turn into friends, even the wounds of former conflicts are mended. And when enemies ultimately become friends, even wounds from past conflicts heal.

'City partnerships are a peace-building commitment. Partners and friends don't shoot at each other.'

Borough Mayor Dr Cordelia Koch

The borough of Pankow has fostered city partnerships since 1994. They were created with the intention of cultivating diverse contacts between citizens, administrations, culture, educational institutions and youth and sports organisations.
In the more than thirty years of existence of the partnerships with Kołobrzeg and Ashkelon, a mutual understanding has developed for the problems and challenges of the twin towns and a great willingness to help through numerous exchanges and visits.
The Pankow borough office coordinates and promotes the city partnerships in politics and administration. The cooperation is also strongly characterised by the voluntary work of the twinning associations and civic commitment. The associations are happy to provide more information and invite those interested to actively contribute to shaping the town partnerships.
Since 2023, Pankow has a third city partnerships with Rivne in Ukraine.
The 30th anniversary of the city partnerships with Ashkelon and Kolberg and the first anniversary of the city partnerships with Rivne were celebrated in 2024 with delegation visits, a youth exchange and a joint concert in Berlin. The simultaneous visit of all twin towns to Pankow is a highlight of the twinning cooperation of the past thirty years. Making music, sharing conversations, and laughing together unites people across borders, fostering hope for international understanding and peace. Further information
Pankow established contacts with KaTembe, a district in Mozambique’s capital Maputo, in the field of municipal development policy since 2019. The districts have been cooperating as part of a development partnership since 2022. A coordination office for municipal development policy is to be set up in the borough of Pankow in 2025.

Partner City Kołobrzeg, Poland

On 30 May 1994, Mayor Dr Jörg Richter and Mayor Henryk Blenkowski officially established the city partnerships between the borough of Berlin-Pankow and Kołobrzeg (Kolberg).
In the founding document, the twin towns express their desire to ‘develop the partnership for the benefit of all’, with ‘diverse contacts’ being an expression of their good relationship.
Kołobrzeg is a harbour town and health resort on the Baltic Sea with just under 50,000 inhabitants. Kołobrzeg is located in West Pomerania and is only 230 kilometres away from Pankow.
In addition to youth exchanges and joint cultural and sporting projects, the partners want to explore their shared history in the coming years and initiate cooperation between training centres in the catering/hotel/tourism sector.
The city partnerships association Freunde Kolbergs e. V. supports the district’s activities and also maintains the partnership.

further information

City partnership association Freunde Kolbergs e.V.

German-language information about Kołobrzeg

Exchange about Kołobrzeg at the Kolber Cafe

Partner City Ashkelon, Israel

The mayor of Ashkelon Benny Vaknin and the mayor of Weißensee of Berlin Gert Schilling signed an official partnership agreement between their two municipalities on 7 July 1994.
‘In the knowledge of a special responsibility towards recent history’, the representatives signed the twinning document, guided ’by the desire to fill the friendship with life through personal encounters and the exchange of experiences.’
Ashkelon is located on the Mediterranean coast in the south of Israel. Today, over 150,000 people live in the developing city.
For the first time visited the mayor of Ashkelon Pankow in 2024 to mark the 30th anniversary. In turn, district mayor Dr Koch is travelling to Israel with a group from the district council in February 2025.
In addition to the district’s work, the city partnerships is largely supported by the commitment of the city partnerships association Freundeskreis Berlin Pankow – Ashkelon e. V.

further information

City partnerships association Freundeskreis Berlin Pankow – Ashkelon e.V.

Delegation trip to Ashkelon in February 2025

Partner City Rivne, Ukraine

In December 2022, the Pankow borough council decided to establish a solidarity partnership with the western Ukrainian city of Rivne against the backdrop of the Russian attack on Ukraine.
In February 2023, a delegation from Pankow visited Rivne and met with representatives of the city administration and civil society actors. The city partnerships with Rivne was officially sealed on 12 July 2023 when the then mayor of Rivne, Oleksandr Tretyak, visited the borough of Pankow for the first time.
The Pankow borough office has organised several aid convoys since 2023 and has been able to bring hundreds of tonnes of relief supplies to Rivne with the help of volunteers. In addition, active citizens of the district support the district office efficiently in the implementation of various projects, in particular the Pankow-Rivne Partnership Association. The partnership is supervised in Pankow by the coordination centre for the solidarity partnership Rivne.

Delegation trip to Rivne in May 2025

further information

Solidarity partnership with Rivne

Partnership association Pankow-Riwne

Development partnership with KaTembe/Maputo, Mozambique

Since 2019, Pankow, together with the Lichtenberg borough office, has been in contact with Maputo, the capital of Mozambique, as part of its municipal development policy. In 2022, a jointly Memorandum of Understanding was signed during a multi-day visit by a delegation from KaTembe in Berlin. There partners decided to strengthen the friendship and understanding between the people of the two districts and formally establish a city partnership.
KaTembe is an up-and-coming neighbourhood in Mozambique’s capital Maputo. Today, just under 30,000 people live in the partner district. Due to the greatly improved connection through the construction of a new bridge to the city centre, a rapid economic upswing and influx is forecast, so that up to 400,000 people could live in KaTembe by the middle of the century. This would make the KaTembe district as populous as the district of Pankow.
The Pankow borough office is planning to set up a coordination centre for municipal development policy to support this development partnership. It will be based in the mayor’s office.