Silistra lies in the North-East of Bulgaria on river Danube, which borders with Romania there. For the past 10 years the city has encountered major economic hardship. Silistra is a municipality including 18 villages in addition to the city of Silistra. It is a major factory town with a number of businesses that have failed to make the transition to a market economy. Businesses include chemical production, agricultural produce, meat processing, wood processing, electronics plant, textile factory. The land around the city is good quality and agriculture has been traditional for the area.
The city has highly qualified workforce, however it has been difficult to keep them in the city due to lack of job opportunities. The city makes special efforts in the field of education and culture. There is a high quality school system in the municipality including specialized high schools. The leadership of the municipality is committed to revitalizing local economy and is prepared to make all the efforts possible to increase quality of life for their citizens. The city's new web site is: http://www.bulgaria.domino.bg/silistra/silistra.htm
Silistra has been partnered with Kettering, Ohio for the purpose of the Resource Cities Program since July 2000.
The community needs to move quickly to capitalize on its educated workforce and industrial infrastructure before the best and brightest citizens move away and the infrastructure becomes obsolete beyond re-use feasibility.
The city has also has a park along the Danube, which was a beautiful area in 1985. It has excellent potential but has had limited maintenance in the last fifteen years. A long-term plan for park redevelopment and implementation of the initial phases of the plan is needed to promote civic pride and public confidence in the future of the community.
The partners have therefore identified the following technical agenda for their partnership:
(a) Create an Economic Development Incubator
(b) Create expansion opportunities for existing Businesses
(c) Create opportunities for new investments, foreign and domestic
(d) Renovation and Future Development of the Danube Park.
Secondary areas of cooperation:
- Educational
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- Recycling and composting