Our vision is for a city which celebrates diversity, where all citizens’ backgrounds are valued and where all citizens experience a sense of belonging to their community.
It is for a city whose international connections bring increased trade and therefore prosperity to its citizens, whose capacity to learn from best practice enhances its competitiveness and whose confident, internationally minded citizens, free from racism and xenophobia, are committed in solidarity to fulfilling their commitments to the planet.
International relations team – what we do
We are responsible for leading and co-ordinating the council’s European and international relations strategies.
We work closely with our partner cities across the world, within international networks and with national and regional government.
Key objectives
- To bring new trade and investment opportunities to businesses in this region through our partner city relationships
- To give the people of Leeds, particularly our young people, a high quality international experience
- To increase efficiency and competitiveness on the part of the local authority and other Leeds-based partner organisations by taking part in transnational projects funded by the EU and other external bodies
- To contribute to the UN’s Millennium Development Goals which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education by 2015
Please download International Relations Priorities 2007-2008 from the right of this page for more detailed information about our key objectives.
Partnerships
We have a number of well established relationships with cities around the world and we work with them. These are Brno in the Czech Republic, Colombo in Sri Lanka, Dortmund in Germany, Durban in South Africa, Hangzhou in China, Lille in France, Louisville in the USA and Siegen in Germany.
We also have strong contacts in the cities of Brasov (Romania), Stockholm (Sweden) and St Mary (Jamaica) for the purposes of ongoing projects. Over the next twelve months we intend to explore relations with Karachi (Pakistan), and Ankara (Turkey) .
Local partnerships are equally important when it comes to our international work and we work closely with business support organisations such as the Chamber of Commerce and UK Trade and Investment, as well as with universities, colleges, schools and the voluntary sector. Increasingly too, we work with private sector companies to fulfil the aim of strengthening Leeds in the global economy.