Gran Canaria Municipalities Partner with Galician Towns for Camino de Santiago
San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Gáldar, and Tejeda formalize an agreement with eleven Galician councils to boost tourism and culture.
By Redacción La Voz Canaria
••3 min read
IA
Generic image of two hands shaking over a desk, symbolizing an agreement.
The municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Gáldar, and Tejeda have formalized a twinning agreement in Galicia with eleven Galician municipalities linked to the Camino de Santiago, aiming to boost tourism and culture in anticipation of the Jacobean Holy Year 2027.
This pact, which connects the Canarian towns with the Mancomunidade de Concellos Galegos do Camiño Francés, primarily seeks to foster the exchange of cultural activities and recreational events. The initiative aims to enrich the religious, cultural, and tourist offerings, projecting the Gran Canarian Camino both nationally and internationally.
The twinning document was signed this Thursday, attended by mayors Marco Aurelio Pérez of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Teodoro Sosa of Gáldar, and Francisco Perera of Tejeda. From the Galician side, the president of the Commonwealth, Begoña Balado, and representatives from the municipalities of the French Way in Galicia were present.
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"Today we build bridges. Bridges of collaboration, mutual learning, and joint work. Because we believe in a way of doing politics that adds, connects territories, and bets on understanding to generate opportunities."
The mayor of Gáldar, Teodoro Sosa, had previously highlighted the significance of this agreement in a prior plenary session, especially with a view to the Jacobean Holy Year 2027. He emphasized that this collaboration will boost the external image of the three Gran Canaria municipalities, showcasing unity without rivalry and attracting interest from Galician towns.
The Commonwealth of Galician Municipalities of the French Way comprises eleven town halls, from the point where the Camino de Santiago enters Galicia to the border with Santiago de Compostela. These include O Cebreiro, Triacastela, Samos, Sarria, Paradela, Portomarín, Monterroso, Castillo de Pambre in Palas de Rei, Melide, Arzúa, and O Pino.
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"I would like to express the will of the Commonwealth of Galician Municipalities of the French Way to establish permanent ties of relationship and friendship with the municipalities of San Bartolomé de Tirajana, Tejeda, and the Royal City of Gáldar, in order to get to know each other better, understand each other mutually, exchange experiences, and cooperate. We appreciate the effort of the mayors of Gran Canaria in traveling to Galicia to sign this agreement. After several telematics meetings, phone calls, emails, today, finally, we can affirm that we are sister municipalities."
This twinning had a precedent in November of last year, when the Casa de Galicia in Madrid hosted an event to strengthen cultural and symbolic ties between Galicia and Canarias around the Jacobean tradition. That meeting was attended by the director of the Casa de Galicia in Madrid, Luis Ramos; the delegate of the Government of Canarias in Madrid, Rosa Aguilar; the Sports Councilor of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria, Aridany Romero; and the president of the Commonwealth of Galician Municipalities of the French Way, Begoña Balado, among other authorities.
