News - Provided by Nottingham City Council

Madam Wu Lan, John Connelly and Vincenzo Raimo, the Director of the International Office, the University of Nottingham Inner Mongolian Delegation Visits Nottingham

Invited by the Chinese Embassy in the UK, Madam Wu Lan, the Director of Inner Mongolia International Cultural Association, brought a major Mongolian exhibition and performance to London last week. Due to the close links between Nottingham and Ordos of Inner Mongolia, Madam Wu Lan and other delegation members visited Nottingham on Sunday 9th November.

The partnership between Nottingham and Ordos started with Madam Fu Ying, the Chinese Ambassador’s visit to Nottingham in May 2008. Recommended by the Ambassador, Nottingham City Council representatives visited Ordos in June 2008 and agreed to develop collaborations in cultural and educational exchanges between the two cities.

In October 2008, Nottingham representatives met Madam Su, the Director of Ordos Beijing Office and further confirmed Nottingham’s intention to cooperate.

Ordos is one of the fastest developing Chinese cities with great natural resources. The city’s rich culture gives it a large potential for cultural and educational exchanges and cooperation. Nottingham City and County schools and the local cultural sector are keen to work with Ordos to bring this unique Mongolian culture to Nottingham schools and communities.

The delegation was received by the Lord Mayor of Nottingham in the Council House where the two parties had a productive discussion on opportunities for educational and cultural collaboration. They also visited Wollaton Hall where they were impressed by the collections; and the University of Nottingham where they heard of its exciting work with China.

11/11/08

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Nottingham Leader Jon Collins (right) and Timisoara Mayor Gheorghe Ciuhandu sign the agreement Nottingham signs partner city agreement with Timisoara

Jon Collins, Leader of Nottingham City Council and Gheorghe Ciuhandu, Mayor of Timisoara, Romania, have signed an agreement between the two cities.

The document commits the two cities to cooperate through sharing experience and best practice in the field of urban and neighbourhood regeneration. It also provides opportunities for the respective Chambers of Commerce and other key business agencies to develop opportunities for trading and investment links between the two cities.

Mayor Ciuhandu, with Timisoara’s Director for Development and senior colleagues, spent three days in Nottingham to meet with Derek Martin, Director for Regeneration; the Planning and Urban Design Team; and the Museums Service at Nottingham City Council to share Nottingham’s experience and best practice in planning for urban and neighbourhood regeneration, as well as restoration of historic sites and buildings.

The trip follows on from an earlier visit by Derek Martin and colleagues when they held a ‘Seminar on Urban Regeneration’ in Timisoara. The activity was supported by the UK Embassy in Romania, who is currently working to support Romanian cities to make links with UK cities to share best practice, particularly in areas such as urban and neighbourhood regeneration.

The delegation also includes the President of the Timis Chamber of Commerce and 8 businesses looking for trade, partnership and investment opportunities in Nottingham and the wider region.

8/10/08

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Celebrating 40 years of partnership with Karlsruhe

Your ideas and suggestions welcome!

2009 will see 40 years of Nottingham’s partnership with Karlsruhe, one of our most important and active international links. Plans for celebrating this significant milestone in our relationship are already underway and will include a number of events and partnership projects. The two most important events during this year will be the ‘Nottingham Days’ in Karlsruhe from the 7th to 10th May 2009, and the ‘Karlsruhe Week’ in Nottingham from the 7th to 10th October 2009. At each of these events, Nottingham and Karlsruhe will celebrate the partnership that our two cities have had over the past 40 years and will showcase some of the excellent work that we have been involved in together.

If you are involved in partnership projects with Karlsruhe or if you have any ideas about events or projects Nottingham could get involved in next year to celebrate the 40th Anniversary, we would like to hear from you. Please contact Eleanor Fletcher, International Officer, on eleanor.fletcher@nottinghamcity.gov.uk with your ideas and suggestions!

3/11/08

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Pingping Chen, Yiyun Ling, John Connelly and Lifang Shu at Ningbo Middle School East Midlands Business Delegation to China

East Midlands China Business Bureau and Nottingham City Council recently led a business delegation of 20 people to visit Shanghai and Ningbo for one week. The delegation consisted of both government officials and company representatives in the fields of IT, textile, education, agriculture, healthcare and cultural exchange.

An investment seminar was held on 23 October in Ningbo with over 50 Ningbo enterprises attending. In addition to the seminar, UK companies visited relevant Ningbo companies to discover potential opportunities. Representatives from Castle College, Nottingham Playhouse and East Midlands Textile Association also held meetings with relevant Ningbo organisations.

3/11/08

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Turin Designs on world capital

Nottingham City Council visited Turin, the World Capital of Design in October on the occasion of the exhibition “Flexibility: Design in a fast changing society”. Turin, which is part of the EUROCITIES network, has recently developed a very strong relationship with Nottingham through both the Culture Department and the International Team.

Turin, after an intense programme of regeneration started in the 80s and its experience hosting the Winter Olympic Games last year, is now the world capital of design for 2008.

The City of Nottingham used this opportunity to visit the Culture Department in Turin and the World Capital of Design organization lead by the Directors Luigi Ratcliffe and Paola Zini who have been extremely supportive of Nottingham’s application to become a future world capital of Design.

3/11/08

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Michael Williams, Cllr Malcolm Wood,Julie Herve (Eurocities), Elena Lai, Cllr David Trimble, Jan Heeren (Amsterdam) Eurocities Culture Forum in Istanbul

The City of Nottingham attended its final EUROCITIES Culture Forum meeting as chair in Beyoglu, Istanbul in October.

Beyoglu neighbourhood has been a model for an urban centre of intercultural harmony over many centuries and still is, with different cultures and religions meeting and cooperating together.

Councilor Malcolm Wood, who chaired the Culture Forum for two years, will still be in charge of the chairmanship of the EUROCITIES Cultural and Creative industries Working Group until early 2010, said he was very satisfied with the work undertaken by Nottingham during this two years of intense effort in order to raise the profile of the cultural sector across Europe.

The Portfolio Holder for Community and Culture Dave Trimble and Corporate Director Michael Williams, with the support of Elena Lai, from the City Council’s International Team, have worked hard to identify new opportunities, strengthening and developing new links with other major European cities (Warsaw, Bologna, Turin, Nantes and more!) and participating in a large scale project in cooperation with the Council of Europe and the EUROCITIES network, the Intercultural Cities Project.

3/11/08

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Eindhoven meeting 2009 - a Year of Creativity and Innovation

Design Week in Eindhoven saw Nottingham chairing the EUROCITIES Working Group on Culture and Creative Industries with 30 major EU Cities attending.

The meeting offered an opportunity to compare creativity and innovation from around the Netherlands in a range of unusual venues across the city and to hear from major businesses such as Philips.

Councilor Malcolm Wood, Chair of the Working Group, presented with Michael Williams the first findings of a mapping exercise of the local/EU creative sector, developed in cooperation with Dr Jim Shorthose of Nottingham Creative Network.

The results will be used to complete a series of recommendations the City of Nottingham will be working on during the coming months to influence the European Commission’s decision before the publication of a Green Paper expected in the end of 2009.

3/11/08

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Harare image Nottingham joins ‘Local Authority Action for Southern Africa’

Nottingham City Council has recently joined the local government group, ‘Local Authority Action for Southern Africa’ (LAACTSA). LAACTSA was formed in 1995 following the defeat of Apartheid and undertakes work on many critical issues facing the peoples of the region.

Since the end of Apartheid and colonialism in Southern Africa, many have turned away from providing assistance to the people of the region, thinking the struggle is over. The reality is different. The structural inequalities that existed then are still in evidence today and will take many more years to overcome in spite of the valiant efforts of governments and civil society.

For Nottingham, LAACTSA membership supports our new priority for contributing to meaningful campaigns and development projects in Southern Africa. We have already been involved in celebrating Nelson Mandela’s 90th birthday by supporting the campaign to encourage people to sign birthday cards to Mandela and to pledge for democracy, justice and rights for Southern Africa. In the future, we look to working in partnership with our new LAACTSA partners on new campaigns and initiatives for Southern Africa.

If you are interested in campaigns to support Southern Africa, please visit the ‘Action for Southern Africa’ (ACTSA) website for more information about specific campaigns and how to get involved.

3/11/08

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Zhang Jintang (left) A Nottingham welcome for Chinese delegates

Nottingham City Council welcomed a delegation of senior officials from the city of Anyang from China’s Henan Province on Tuesday October 28.

Anyang is a prefecture-level city in Henan province, People’s Republic of China, and is an important industrial city of the province. Primary industries include metallurgy, electronics, chemistry, power, machine building, textile, pharmaceutical, tobacco, etc.

The delegation, which included Mr. Zhang Jintang, Chairman of the Anyang People’s Congress, were keen to find out more about Nottingham’s economic strengths and opportunities here for trade and investment, particularly in the creative sector.

Councillor Graham Chapman, Deputy Leader of Nottingham City Council said: “Even in these difficult times China is one of the world’s fastest growing markets. The Chinese are also looking to invest abroad. This is why delegation visits such as these are so important not only for developing new opportunities for Nottingham businesses but also to provide us in Nottingham with an opportunity to show what we have to offer and to encourage investment into the city”

28/10/08

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Fireworks 'Tis the season for lots of festivals

Despite the dark days, there are more festivals and celebrations with a real international feel to cheer us up than ever in Nottingham.

Bonfire night seems to be a movable feast these days, and then we have the celebration of Eid with a civic reception at Nottingham Council House on 14th November. A Diwali Gala at the Royal Concert Hall on 22nd November follows. Then Christmas will of course kick off with the traditional German Market and the more recent innovation of ice skating in the Old Market Square.

1/11/08

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European funding

For the latest news on European funding programmes go to the European funding information page.

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