The second half of 2025 was very busy for our Sister City Committee! 

After a very successful trip to Japan and our sister city Kurashik in April, another big trip to Asia was on the agenda: Bejing and our sister city Wuhan in October/November.

But first things first: our Youth Unlimited project 2025, which is sending 6 teens to our partner cities, had its kick-off at the end of May and first trips have already been made: To Altoona, Penn, and Wuhan, PR of China.

 In June, I was able to take part in the Interreg Project commemorating Ruth Maier, the Austrian Anne Frank, with a group of 5 committed girls from BHAK St.Pölten in Brno and Zarosice, Cz. We were all lucky to have wonderful hosts and so close friendships were struck with participants from Norway and the Czech Republic. 

In September a St.Pölten committee delegation made their way to our sister city Brno, where we were overjoyed to have very special sightseeig tours (for example to the exhibition quarter of the early industrialised city of Brno) and a lot of lovely food and fun. It was also the month in which the 35-year-anniversary of our partnerhip with Brno was celebrated in St.Pölten with Mayor Matthias Stadler et al.

In October, our president Edwin Flatschart and other committee members (Roswitha Hochhauser, Martina Amler, Herbert Riedlberger, Beate Steiner and myself, GabiBajalan) made the long trip to China, where we admired not only Bejing's historic sights, Xi'an's terracotta army and Shanghai's skyscrapers, but also the enormous development that our sister city Wuhan has taken. At an official reception the certificate of our 20-year-partnership was handed over.

In November we not only celebrated or own 25-year-anniversary as sister city committee St.Pölten with Mayor Matthias Stadler, deputy Mayor Michael Kögl and several town council members, but we also welcomed Heidenheim's Chief Burgomaster Michael Salomo with whom we enjoyed guided tours through our new city library (Stadtbibliothek) and the informative city museum. It was also the month in which an exhibition on Ruth Maier was opened and staged for a week at HAK St.Pölten. I was proud to welcome guests from Zarosice, Brno, the DÖW (documentation centre of Austrian resistance), the city of St.Pölten and of course, BHAK and the 5 girls that had participated in the June workshop.

Finally, in December we were proud to receive a small delegation from or sister city, Clichy, France, among them Luc Mercier, the cultural councillor. We all enjoyed the Christmas market and a concert by JJ, the Austrian song contest winner of 2025. - At a guided tour through the new music campus by the new boss, Lukas Schönsgibl, agreed that more cooperation will follow in 2026 with a visit to Clichy by 4 of our talented violonists. 

This wraps up roughly what the Partnerstädtekomitee St.Pölten has done in 2025! We are all looking forward to another busy year!