International connections

Imatra has been internationally known for centuries. The location in the border area has enabled daily international interaction since the 1700th century.

The city promotes internationality in cooperation with educational institutions, business and other organizations. The aim is to promote the residents' international interactions.

The keywords of internationalization are networks, active mobility, events, culture and visibility. We invest especially in the development of international sports and exercise tourism.

We operate actively in international cooperation networks (city networks, neighborhood cooperation, twin city connections, projects with partners) and we take care of the city's international visibility and support the development of a multicultural city.

Twin cities

There are seven twin cities:

• Ludvika, Sweden, since 1958. Strengthening the position of the Finnish and Swedish languages.
• Zvolen, Slovakia, 1968. Industrial city, culture and sports.
• Salzgitter, Germany, 1971. School exchanges, language skills and sports cooperation.
• Tihvina, Russia, 1972. Relations are frozen from February 2022.
• Szigetvár, Hungary, 1998. Historic spa town.
• Narva-Joesuu, Estonia, 2008, tourism and spa activities, border.
• Jiaxing, China, 2015, tourism and educational cooperation.
• Nizhyn, Ukraine, partner city 2022, twin city 2024. Culture, sports, municipal technology.

Other contracts:

• Beihai, China, 2017, Sister City. Industrial connection Stora Enso.
• Fuengirola, memorandum of understanding for cooperation, 2017, event cooperation.
• nEUbyLakes network The EU's lake area network, which includes 10 countries. Cooperation is based on joint projects.