It was not due to a lack of interest that this return visit only took place two years after Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel had visited Sagunto with a small delegation, but rather due to adverse circumstances. In October 2024, the area around Valencia was severely flooded and it took months for normality to return to the hard-hit region. For this reason, the planned visit to Salzgitter was postponed.

In March of this year, First Mayor Stefan Klein traveled to Sagunto with a private delegation and reminded Mayor Dario Moreno of Mayor Frank Klingebiel's long-standing invitation during his visit to the town hall there. And it worked:

The Spanish delegation spent three days in Salzgitter. Three days filled with all kinds of activities. The ambitious program in Salzgitter began on Monday, 1 June, with a tour of the city. A visit to the Schäferstuhl with an overview of Salzgitter's topographical location gave the guests a first impression. The tour continued with a visit to the grammar school in Salzgitter-Bad and the moated castle in Gebhardshagen and a visit to the town hall. In addition to an overview of Salzgitter from the 10th floor and an entry in the city's Golden Book, the program included an exchange with some members of the Salzgitter City Council. Mayor Dario Moreno presented his city of 75,000 inhabitants. Interesting parallels with Salzgitter emerged, as both cities were shaped by the steel industry for decades and are now faced with the challenge of accompanying the economic transformation process and helping to shape it within the scope of municipal possibilities. The fact that both cities are home to a battery cell factory should not be forgotten and was, so to speak, the triggering factor for the initiation of a town twinning between Sagunto and Salzgitter. The plant in Salzgitter serves as a blueprint for the gigafactory still under construction in Sagunto. A tour of the PowerCo plant was therefore also on the program, framed by many other stops in Salzgitter: the fire station, Salder Castle, Salzgittersee and, as a contrast, a drive through the industrial area with brief glimpses of Salzgitter AG, Alstom, MAN, Volkswagen and Bosch. Despite the numerous items on the program, there was still enough time to find out whether a town twinning would make sense. The answer was clear: Yes! It is a happy coincidence that neither Sagunto has a German city nor Salzgitter a Spanish twin town. There is potential for more in-depth cultural and sporting cooperation based on school exchanges.

"Town twinning has always been important, but in times as fragile as these, it takes on a whole new meaning: standing together, learning with and from each other and standing up side by side for liberal democratic values and bringing the idea of twinning to life sends out a clear signal," says Lord Mayor Frank Klingebiel.

And the words that Mayor Dario Moreno wrote in the Golden Book of the city of Salzgitter show that his Spanish counterpart sees it the same way:

"It is a great pleasure to return to Salzgitter for the second time, especially to prepare our town twinning. We share a history linked to the steel industry and a present characterized by new industries. The challenge now is to grow together - not only economically, but also as European brothers and sisters."