Exactly 50 years ago, on the 19^th of April 1966 three cities Birmingham, Frankfurt and Lyon signed a partnership agreement that started unprecedented period of enhanced collaboration. Birmingham and Frankfurt are celebrating 50 years of joint working. Lyon has been partnered with both cities for much longer and this agreement has sealed the cooperation between all three and resulted in numerous joint projects, initiatives and collaborations.

These fifty years have offered an unparalleled opportunity for the three cities to work on projects such as academic exchanges and joint research projects, to name a few the partnership between the University of Birmingham and the Goethe University, mutual collaboration within the Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community, or the Opticities project and a partnership between Aston Brain Centre and the Neurodis Foundation in Lyon. Throughout the years we’ve seen many bilateral and trilateral civic and business engagements, art projects and collaborations, sport events, youth partnership projects and many more. The most visible of these is the Frankfurt Christmas Market hosted by Birmingham since 2000, which has quickly become the largest authentic German Christmas Market outside Germany and Austria.

As part of the anniversary programme, several events have been planned with businesses, academia, culture, arts and sports organisations from Frankfurt and Birmingham. Collaborations and exchanges will culminate in November with a German Week at the Library of Birmingham and the Anniversary Gala planned for the 18th of November with the attendance of the Mayor of Frankfurt and the German Ambassador to the United Kingdom.