The German city Stuttgart and Cairo have been twinned for 40 years already. As part of this anniversary, a delegation from the state capital of Baden-Württemberg traveled to the metropolis of Cairo to visit Egyptian representatives and various institutions. Among others, Dr. Martin Schairer (Mayor of the City of Stuttgart), Nadia vom Scheidt (Head of the Department of External Relations of the City of Stuttgart) and Prof. Manal El-Shahad (from the University of Stuttgart).
Also SEKEM and the city of Stuttgart have also been closely linked for many years. The main reason for this longstanding cooperation is the German SEKEM Friends Association that is based in Stuttgart and promotes numerous initiatives, such as the education exchange between Egypt and Germany. Hence, the past decades there have been many common projects. A particularly significant example of SEKEM’s affiliation with the district around Stuttgart was the awarding of the Stauffer Medal of the State of Baden-Württemberg to Ibrahim Abouleish in 2015.
Promising new projects
At the beginning of October there was another opportunity to arrange a visit of an official representative of the state capital Stuttgart in SEKEM. Foreign Affairs Director Nadia vom Scheidt was invited to see SEKEM and the Heliopolis University. In this context, she also met SEKEM CEO Helmy Abouleish. Among others they agreed that the cooperation between the Egyptian initiative and the German city has great potential to be intensified in the future. An example of a promising joint project is the maintenance and expansion of the “Stuttgart Garden” in Cairo. SEKEM students are going to plan and carry out the work on the public garden in Cairo. In addition, the city of Stuttgart has kindly supported the Social Initiative Forum and expressed great interest in cooperation in the field of plastic recycling.
The SEKEM Friends Association from Germany promote the exchange between Cairo, Stuttgart and SEKEM in a several ways and have been engaged already in various celebrations acts for the 40th anniversary of the town twinning. For example, several events took place during the year, also in cooperation with other Egyptian institutions based in Stuttgart, such as the German-Egyptian Association or the Yalla e.V..
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