The Kosovo city of Suhareka is celebrating a “Day of Lilburn” on Sept. 27, including the ceremonial signing of an agreement uniting the two cities as sisters.
The ceremony will take place during a traditional festival of youth and citizens of Suhareka called “Festari.” The week of Festari includes a City March, Fair of Agriculture Products, Exhibition and School Visit. The main “Day of Lilburn” event will be held in the evening of Sept. 27 and will include a concert, dinner, and a solemn signing of the agreement concluding the “twinning” of the two cities.
“Sister Cities create opportunities to exchange ideas and best practices. These exchanges help us to identify our common goals and work together to achieve them. In this small way, the City of Lilburn is doing its part to contribute to world peace,” Mayor Crist said.
Seeds for the partnership were planted when Lilburn Mayor Johnny Crist visited with Suhareka officials while on a church-related trip to Kosovo. Their talks sprouted into plans for cultural and educational exchanges, which eventually blossomed into city sisterhood. In July, a delegation from Suhareka visited the City of Lilburn, which presented the southeaster European city with a “Sister City” proclamation and a key to the city. Mayor Crist is currently in Suhareka to celebrate the “Day of Lilburn.”
Suhareka is “friends” with cities in Germany and Albania, but the city said it would like to form a closer bond with Lilburn. “After intensive cooperation, exchange of young people in the fields of education and culture and citizenship, Mayor Blerim Kuçi and Mayor Johnny Crist agreed that this friendship rises to a higher level, and this is twinning,” Suhareka officials announced in an invitation to the “Day of Lilburn.”