On 21 June 2017, Christof Lewek, member of the association Freundeskreis Berlin Pankow-Ashkelon and head of the recreation centre in Berlin’s Weißensee district, hosted this year’s plenary assembly. We are very happy to welcome two new members to our association: Mr Sören Benn (party Die Linke), district mayor of Berlin Pankow, and Mr Michael Gericke, non-medical practitioner.

Agenda items included the report of the board on the activities carried out between 2015 and 2017, the cash report, the approval of the activities undertaken by the previous board and the election of the new board members. Ines Koenen (chair), Stefanie Gronau (deputy chair) and Stefan Krause (treasurer) were unanimously re-elected as board members, while Natalie Zange (deputy chair) and Renate Schmid (assessor) were unanimously elected as new members.

At the plenary assembly, the association agreed to focus on the following projects in the next two years:

• Intensifying cooperation with Pankow’s district administration and the deputies of the district parliament;
• cooperating with Sportjugend Prenzlauer Berg to organize a youth exchange between Pankow and Ashkelon in 2018/2019;
• preparing and organizing events celebrating the 25th anniversary of the town twinning in 2019;
• visiting Ashkelon in early 2018 together with district mayor Sören Benn and deputies of Pankow’s district parliament;
• upholding the association’s membership in the Federal Association of Binational Associations (BBG).