English

The Twinning association in Braga started in 1989, when some friends Julio Pinto, Jaime Freitas, Nelson Taxa, Leite Magalhães, José Malheiro, António Martins and Maria Helena Leitão, who worked by the Post and Telecom, members oft he CDCR (The Sport, Culture and Entertainment association from the Post), received in Braga a group from the Twinning association of Strasbourg.

The very nest year 1990, a group of friends including Mr André Campion, the president of Strasbourg, they received a delegation from Braga and together they formalized the Twinning between the two sections.

The spirit of Twinning: exchange of experiences in a family ambiance, cultural exchanges and friendship are always present in the several meetings organized both by Braga and Strasbourg.

But the Twinning group was already a large group including other sections from other countries like: Dresden in Deutschland, Leicester in U.K., Vicenza in Italy, Deutschweiz in Switzerland, Sibiu in Romanie.

Braga became also a friend Twinning section from this group and was also invited to participate in the several Twinning meetings organized by the different countries.

Also sport events were offered, like the sky week in Areches, in France, organized by Strasbourg, and since 1990 the number of participants from Braga has increased.

Rui Rua from Braga and Jean-Paul Kaiser from Strasbourg were responsible for the beginning of these meetings. In 2008, 72 Portuguese participated in the week holidays in Areches and more and more people show interest for these kind of events.

In the year 2007, the Twinning association from Braga, separated from the organization CDCR, because they did not accept the Twinning association as a separate organization inside the CDCR.

At that time José Malheiro, Nelson Taxa and José António Machado decided to continue with the Twinning and they founded the new “Associação de Geminação de Braga JEPTT”.

Also in 2007, Braga became a member of the council of the “Eurojumelages” represented by José Malheiro and in October 2010 by José António Machado.