From 22 to 25 September 2022, the Deputy Mayor of Sousse and Chairwoman of the Commission for International Cooperation there, Kawther Mehdoui, visited Braunschweig. During her stay, she met with the Braunschweig Youth Development Department and the Digitalisation and Smart City Unit for a professional exchange and visited the Braunschweig International Festival together with Lord Mayor Dr Kornblum and Mayor Annegret Ihbe. The visitor from Sousse also met representatives of the Association of Tunisians in Germany and the German-Tunisian Society.

Previously, Kawther Mehdoui and a representative of the city of Braunschweig had jointly attended the 5th Partnership Conference between German and African municipalities on the topic of digitalisation in Dresden.

The Consul of the Republic of Tunisia in Hamburg, Mr Nader Bousrih, paid an inaugural visit to Lord Mayor Dr Thorsten Kornblum on Wednesday, 23 February 2022. 

Among other things, Braunschweig's city leader and the Tunisian diplomat spoke in the town hall about the situation in Tunisia, tourism in Tunisia and about the town twinning between Braunschweig and Sousse, which has already been lasting for more than 40 years, and about prospects for future cooperation. 

Born in 1974 in Sousse, Tunisia, Nader Bousrih studied Arabic philology and literature in Tunis and economics and international relations in Madrid. He began his career in the diplomatic service in 1999. After several posts, including in Madrid and Brussels, he took up his post as consul in Hamburg in November 2020, where he is now responsible for consular affairs for the whole of northern Germany.

As of 20 February 2022, the German Robert Koch Institute no longer classifies the Tunisia as a high-risk area fpr the Covid virus. Tunisia hopes for a revival of the tourism industry, which has been battered by the pandemic.

Braunschweig and its Tunisian twin city celebrated their 40 years of twinning. On this occasion, a delegation from Sousse visited us from February 20 to 26, 2020. The delegation consisted of Mayor Dr. Mohamed Ikbel Khaled and four delegates working in the fields of environment, tourism and culture.

For this anniversary, Braunschweig had arranged a festive reception at Richmond Palace on February 21. After the speeches, the mayor of Sousse signed his name in the Golden Visitors' Book of the City of Braunschweig. Music by a traditional folk group from Sousse accompanied the ceremony.

As per this year’s theme, “Braunschweig is cosmopolitan and international, and so is our carnival!”, the guests from Sousse also actively participated in the carnival parade “Schoduvel” on February 23. The Tunisians presented themselves on a specially decorated parade float. The folk group who had already played music at the above mentioned ceremony, accompanied the parade float on foot . 

The visit of our partners from Sousse was also used for a varied exchange of information. A meeting with the Federal Office of Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance (BBK) served to discuss options to improve the management of road accidents in Tunisia. Also, there was an exchange with Braunschweig's Technical University on the renaturation of the Tunisian river Hamdoun. Furthermore, the guests met with Braunschweig’s division in charge of managing the citizens' ideas and complaints and discussed tourism with Braunschweig’s city marketing. Last but not least, a comprehensive side-programme rounded off the delegation's visit.