Riga and the German city of Bremen are celebrating the 40th anniversary of their twinning this year, and in honour of this, a delegation from the Latvian capital, led by the Deputy Mayor Linda Ozola, will visit Bremen this week. During the visit, L. Ozola will meet with the Mayor of Bremen and the President of the Bremen State Parliament to discuss future cooperation in the areas of digitalisation, culture, education, security, as well as strengthening economic ties between the two cities.
The delegation from the Latvian capital will include the Latvian Ambassador in Germany Alda Vanaga, the Director of the Riga Digital Agency Arnis Gulbis, as well as representatives from the Department of Education, Culture and Sports and the Riga Investment and Tourism Agency.
“Riga and Bremen are united by close historical ties and a deep respect for cultural and historical heritage, while also striving for the modern and contemporary. In 1985, thanks to Bremen, it was established one of the first connections with Western Europe after almost 50 years of occupation and isolation. This is also symbolically reflected in the statue of the Bremen Town Musicians given to us, in which, in the Riga version, the Donkey, Dog, Cat, and Rooster try to scare away robbers by peeking through a gap in the Iron Curtain. I am pleased that we have managed to activate cooperation between the cities of Riga and Bremen in the recent years. "The Latvian Embassy in Germany also has a great deal of merit in this process, which Riga truly appreciates," emphasises the Deputy Mayor Linda Ozola.
The delegation led by L. Ozola will meet with the Mayor of Bremen, Dr. Andreas Bovenschulte. L. Ozola will present a symbolic gift to Bremen on behalf of Riga – a framed photograph depicting the sculpture "The Bremen Town Musicians" in Riga.
During the visit, representatives of the city of Riga will visit the Bremen Police Headquarters, where they will learn about the latest developments in police work and discuss the further development of cooperation between the Bremen and Riga police forces. After this meeting, a mutual exchange of experiences in the field of digitalisation is planned, emphasising the achievements and plans in the implementation of the smart city concept and the use of artificial intelligence tools in the city.
It is also planned to attend an adult education institution, or the so-called Volkshochschule, which offers various lifelong learning courses, as well as language learning. It is planned to discuss possible cooperation in learning the German language and its further implementation in the schools of local governments.
The delegation will visit the Bremen state parliament and meet with its president, Antje Grotheer, who represents the Social Democratic Party (SDP). The delegation will also meet with Frank Imhoff, who is the Chairman of the German Christian Democratic Union (CDU) fraction in the Bremen parliament and will visit Riga in May.
It is also planned to visit the Art Center (Zentrum für Kunst) to get to know the Center's activities better, as well as learn more about Bremen's experience as a UNESCO Creative City, which has acquired the status of "City of Literature", and to discuss cooperation opportunities.
At the end of the visit, representatives of the cities of Riga and Bremen will attend and open a Baltic Jazz concert evening, where jazz musicians from Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia will perform and which will be part of the events marking the 40th anniversary of the twinning of Bremen and Riga. Latvia will be represented at the concert by the Matīs Čudars Trio. The festival “jazzahead! 2025" is Europe's most important jazz event, within which the brightest jazz representatives of the Baltic States have come together this year to highlight the diversity of jazz and a new, bold musical approach.
The official twinning of the two cities began on 15 February 1985 with the signing of a twinning agreement and has since grown and developed, covering various areas important to both cities. However, the relationship between Bremen and Riga goes back much further. They are linked by the Hanseatic League, as well as the Bremen bishop Albrecht von Buxthoeven, who participated in the founding of Riga in 1201. In his honor, the pearl of Riga's Art Nouveau – Alberta Street – is named after him.
The sculpture "The Bremen Town Musicians", located near St. Peter's Church and which was opened on 7 May 1991 by a delegation of the Bremen Senate led by Senator V. Rideger. Over the years, close cooperation between the two cities has developed in the field of culture, and there is also a regular exchange of experience between representatives of the Riga Municipal Police and the Bremen Police. This visit will strengthen existing and promote the development of new aspects of cooperation. The Bremen delegation's visit to Riga is planned to take place in the second half of this year.
Information was prepared by Mārtiņš Vilemsons, Project Coordinator at External Communication Division of Riga Municipality Communication Department, e-mail: martins.vilemsons@riga.lv.