Ministry for Justice and Home Affairs

The idea of town twinning was born about 50 years ago, when the peoples of Europe realised the need for mutual reconciliation and cooperation between neighbours. The first contacts were essentially exchanges of experiences in the area of local life. Today, town twinning has grown into a movement linking municipalities in several European countries to a dense and organised network of towns, cities, villages and citizens.

In Malta, with the establishment of Local Councils the idea of town-twinning was introduced through local government legislation in 1994.

According to the Local Councils Act, Local Councils have the right to make twinning arrangements with any city, town, village or other locality in any other country, provided that any twinning between a city, town or village and another locality in any other country shall require the approval of the Minister responsible for Local Government. Prior to this approval, the Local Councils Association is requested to give its opinion on the particular twinning proposal.

In establishing twinning of localities, considerations are normally given to the status of the localities in the other country with which twinning is being proposed, and such that a capital or a former capital city of Malta shall only be twinned with a capital or a former capital of another country, and a city shall, as far as possible, only be twinned with another city.

The following is an updated list of present twinnings between Maltese cities, towns or villages and their foreign counterparts.

TWINNINGS
(as on 16 October 2006)

*LOCAL* *COUNCIL*	*FOREIGN* *COUNCIL*	*AGREEMENT* *SIGNED* *LOCALLY*	*AGREEMENT* *SIGNED* *ABROAD*
Mdina	Lecce (Italy)	Not signed	Not signed
Isla	Cassino	07.09.03	12.07.03
Bormla	Yancheng (China)	only co-operation agreement signed
Zebbug (M)	Agira (Sicily)	07.06.97	10.05.97
Zabbar	Villabate (Sicily)	13.09.97	19.04.97
Zabbar	Eschborn (Germany)	Not signed	Not signed
Siggiewi	Vittoria (Sicily)	29.02.04	10.11.03
Zejtun	Tocina (Spain)	18.06.04	06.07.04
Zejtun	Celano (Italy)
Rabat (G)	Palermo (Sicily)	13.02.03	Not signed
Rabat (G)	Citadella (Provincia di Padova)
Attard	Licata (Sicily)	Not signed	Not signed
Attard	Pieve Emanuele (Italy)	Not signed	18.05.04
Birkirkara	Sorrento (Italy)
Birkirkara	Grosseto (Italy)	16.11.02	30.11.02
Dingli	Petrosino (Italy)
Għajnsielem	Tolfa (Italy)	24.08.04	07.08.03
Gharb	Gerano (Italy)	04.07.02	25.04.02
Gharghur	Castione della Presolana
Gzira	Glyfada (Greece)	Not signed	14.07.00
Gzira	Walzbrych (Poland)	Not signed	12.11.00
Kalkara	Comune di Crespellano		19.07.06
Kercem	Comune d’Orvieto (Italy)	10.07.03	04.12.03
Kirkop	Rousset (France)	16.09.05	28.04.05
Luqa	Amalfi (Italy)	Not signed	Not signed
Marsa	Bridgwater (UK)		25.04.06
Marsaxlokk	Comune di Cadeo	Not signed	03.10.04
Mellieha	Adenau (Germany)	24.05.96	12.01.96
Mosta	Millbrae (U.S.A.)	28.04.96	05.10.96
Mosta	Ragusa (Sicily)	01.05.04	04.12.04
Msida	Monte Argentaria (Italy)	Not signed	Not signed
Munxar	Ragalna (Sicily)	17.07.03	13.04.04
Nadur	Cicciano (Italy)	20.11.00	02.05.01
Nadur	Baveno (Italy)	28.03.04	11.10.03
Naxxar	Hailsham (UK)	only co-operation Agreement signed
Paola	Paola Kansas City (U.S.A.)
Pembroke	Pembroke Town (Wales)	15.03.02	04.05.02
Pembroke	Pembroke Dock Town (Wales)	20.02.02	03.05.02
Pembroke	Roccalumera	03.07.06
Qala	Santa Marina Salina (Sicily)	13.10.01	23.09.01
Qala	Lanciano (Provincia di Chieti)
Rabat (M)	Tarquinia (Italy)	17.03.02	12.10.02
San Giljan	Milazzo (Sicily)
San Gwann	Monreale (Sicily)	24.08.02	17.01.03
San Lawrenz	Colle Umberto – Treviso (Italy)	07.07.05	03.09.05
San Pawl il-Bahar	Larnaca (Cyprus)	Not signed	Not signed
Sannat	Comune Montefiascone (Italy)
Sannat	Comune di Pisoniano
Sliema	Les Sables D’Olonne (France)	02.09.05
St. Lucija	Jin Chang (Suzhon) China	09.11.01	22.06.00
St. Lucija	Tulcea (Romania)	Not signed	Not signed
Swieqi	Taormina (Sicily)	02.02.01	08.12.00
Ta’Xbiex	Pescara (Italy)		07.12.97
Ta’Xbiex	Heliopolis (Greece)	28.11.04	13.02.05
Tarxien	Ovindoldi (Italy)	28.05.05
Xagħra	Offida (Italy)	01.09.03	21.09.05
Xewkija	Castelvenere (Italy)	19.06.02	16.02.02
Zebbug (G)	Maletto (Sicily)	30.11.02	19.06.05
Zurrieq	Morphu (Cyprus)	17.10.00	01.03.03
Zurrieq	Borgo Maggiore (S. Marino)	01.06.00	16.09.01

Note:
* Bormla - Only co-operation agreement signed
* Naxxar - Only co-operation agreement signed