Donetsk and Pittsburgh - Sister Cities
In 1988 such relations were established by signing the communiquй on cooperation between the Donetsk City Executive Committee and Pittsburgh's municipality. Donetsk has already established sister cities' relations with Bochum (Germany) and Sheffield (Great Britain). Prospects of further trilateral cooperation between Donetsk, Pittsburgh and Sheffield were determined in the document named "Partnerships for Progress" signed by the three sides in Sheffield in 1992.
At the end of the 80-ies the exchange of delegations took place: the representatives of Donetchyna took a photo exhibition to Pittsburgh, and the delegation of journalists from Pittsburgh shot a film in Donetsk. At the beginning of the 90-ies the exhibition "The American Design" was presented in Donetsk by the Pittsburgh's delegation. Later the existing relations were developed further on. The Society "Pittsburgh-Donetsk" was created in Pittsburgh being alike to the one established in Donetsk.
The development of cooperation between our cities got a new stimulation when the program "Community Connections" was started. The program gave the inhabitants of the Donetsk Region a chance to broaden their contacts with the Pittsburgh's community. The Pittsburgh Council for International Visitors - PCIV - is responsible for organization of training for professionals from the Donetsk Region. In summer 1999 the delegation from Pittsburgh visited Donetsk aiming at signing the agreement on sister cities' status between our cities. The delegation was headed by the coordinator of PCIV program Stephen Haluszczak. Illarion Kinal, Debra Walentchuk, Cris Kintchak, Stephen Repa were the members of the delegation. Bilateral agreement was signed by the mayors of both cities. In February 2000 the Day of the city of Donetsk was held in Pittsburgh. The project having been worked out by PCIV made possible the visit to Donetsk of the American scientists Rhonda Coast and Susan Cook for holding lecture course on business in different institutions of the city. The project of students' exchange between Donetsk and Pittsburgh universities is in progress. Thanks to support of the American government an IATP Center was opened in the Donetsk Regional Scientific Library providing access and studying the Internet for all the participants of the USA exchange programs. IREX (the International Council on Scientific Affairs) provides its work. The center gives the chance for numerous participants of the American programs to contact their colleagues in the USA using the Internet; to have training in creation of their own home-pages. The Internet gives the opportunity to avoid borders between those living in different countries and to contact actively by E-mail or in chat being held every Monday. All those in Pittsburgh who is willing to, may join chat conversations and communicate with the participants of the program "Community Connections".
In August 2001 the visit of the Pittsburgh delegation including 10 representatives of PCIV is planned to be held. Both professional and cultural programs are prepared for our guests. This will allow to strengthen and broaden community connections.
Trends and prospects of the project's development