A delegation of the City of Banja Luka headed by Mayor Dragoljub Davidović visited at the end of October this year the Swedish city Västerås.

„This return visit, which came as a result of the invitation made earlier by the Västerås City Administration, was of a particular use to us. During our stay there we visited a thermal power plant and a landfill for waste management and treatment in Västerås, which uses one of the cleannest technology in Europe. We attended the presentations in the field of traffic and got particularly interested in the way in which the issue of cycle tracks in the city had been solved", Mayor Davidović said on his return to Banja Luka.

He laid a particular stress on the importance of the presentation concerning urban cycling and the access for the disabled in Västerås as the City of Banja Luka itself plans to implement the Study „Situation Analysis and Proposal of Measures for Improvement of Urban Cycling in Banja Luka".

„I think that the experience gained in this field by Västerås would be very useful to us. I am sure that it is in this field in particular that our cooperation will be initiated", Mayor Davidović announced.

„Having visited the thermal power plant, we witnessed the latest-technology production of both electrical and thermal energy while using a high percentage of renewable fuels, which enables considerable energy efficiency", said the Mayor. According to him, the visit paid to the VafabMiljö Landfill was also useful as they were given opportunity to see how waste was managed and bio-gas produced to be later used for public transport vehicles. 

„We also visited a school of culture. Our hosts expressed an interest in cooperation between our universities as well as in cooperation in the field of culture, sport and economy, Mayor Davidović concluded.

Namely, the cooperation between Västerås and Banja Luka dates back to 1969, but it was put to a standstill due to the 1990s war. It was re-initiated last year.

Ever since 2000 the earlier made partnerships have been re-established and new contacts have been made with cities from all over Europe . We remind that today there are twelve (12) cooperation agreements signed with European cities. These are: Belgrade , Novi Sad , Sremska Mitrovica (SERBIA), Kranj (SLOVENIA), Graz (AUSTRIA), Moscow (RUSSIA), Kaiserslautern (GERMANY), Patras (GREECE), Lviv (UKRAINE), Bari , Bitonto and Campobasso (ITALY).