How did this contact come about?
As in Sagunto, Spain, PowerCo, a subsidiary of Volkswagen AG, will also build a battery cell factory in St. Thomas. PowerCo launched its global battery offensive a good two years ago. In the summer of 2022, the go-ahead was given for the construction of its first own giga-cell factory in Salzgitter, which will serve as a blueprint for future plants.
Nine months later, the time had come in Sagunto, Spain, and in December 2023, St. Thomas, Canada, was pleased to announce the completion of site preparations for the gigacell factory. The Mayor of St. Thomas, Joe Preston, used this opportunity not only to visit PowerCo in Salzgitter, but also to visit and exchange ideas with his Salzgitter counterpart, Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel. Joe Preston was accompanied by Sean Dyke, CEO of the business development company, and city representative Sandra Datars Bere.
The exchange was intensive and friendly, and there was a great deal of mutual interest. It quickly became clear that this first meeting would not be the end of the story. So the return invitation was not long in coming. The five-person delegation from Salzgitter had important questions in their luggage. What do they have in common, where are the differences and, above all, what could develop from this first contact?
One thing they had in common quickly became clear: both cities are important locations for the forward-looking industrial transformation process.
And is there anything else that connects them?
Salzgitter has just under 107,000 inhabitants, St. Thomas just under 40,000.
The council of the city of Salzgitter consists of Mayor Frank Klingebiel and 46 council members, while the city council in St. Thomas has eight members in addition to Mayor Joe Preston.
St. Thomas is an independent municipality in the administrative center of Elgin County. Salzgitter, an independent city, is also responsible for everything and is the third largest industrial location in Lower Saxony.
With its location halfway between Detroit (USA) and Buffalo (USA), St. Thomas was and is also an important industrial location.
Long dominated by the railroad and still proud of the title "railwayCity", the automotive industry and its suppliers became increasingly important in St. Thomas in the mid-1950s.
And it is not only the development in the automotive industry, but also the changed global economic conditions that are currently presenting both cities with enormous challenges.
Frank Klingebiel and Joe Preston quickly agreed that there was much to be said for networking with each other. But doesn't the distance of 6,500 kilometers speak against it?
"A belief in shared values and a genuine interest in each other count for more than supposedly separating kilometers. Networking with each other, exchanging ideas - in person or digitally - is quick and easy these days and offers an important opportunity to think outside the box and learn from each other."
And the Salzgitter delegation learned from and experienced a lot about each other during their first visit to St. Thomas.
A welcome dinner with Joe Preston, all eight council members and important decision-makers from business and society was on the agenda at the start of the delegation's visit. The next day was dedicated to exploring PowerCo Canada: a visit to the gigantic site where the Giga cell factory will be built just outside St. Thomas and an intensive exchange at the PowerCo headquarters in St. Thomas. The landmark of St. Thomas, a life-size statue of the circus elephant Jumbo, which was hit by a freight train in 1885, the Elevated Park, which is unique in Canada and was created on a discarded railroad bridge, and of course the historic town hall were just some of the other stops on the ambitious program of visits. The activities of the Economic Development Corporation and the Council to revitalize downtown St. Thomas were the subject of lively discussion.
And between the individual items on the program, there was plenty of time to discuss the areas in which future cooperation could be possible. The areas of education, social affairs, culture and sport quickly came into focus.
Frank Klingebiel and Joe Preston agreed that "established town twinning partnerships and incipient town friendships must be filled with life" and reaffirmed their desire to intensify the contacts that have already been established.
