In the period from October 10 to October 12, 2023, the 21st European
Week of Regions and Cities 2023 was held in Brussels.
The AP Vojvodina delegation - led by the Undersecretary for Regional Development,
Interregional Cooperation and Local Self-Government, Aleksandra Sitarević, and
including the director of the "European Affairs" Fund, Ognjen Dopuđ, as well as
the assistant directors of the "European Affairs" Fund, Kristina Bašić and
Ivana Đurica - she participated in the meeting held on October 10 in the
premises of the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in the Kingdom of Belgium,
which was attended by: the representative of the Republic of Srpska in Brussels
Nemanja Malić, Marko Mandić from CEFTA, Marko Petrović from the
Serbian Chamber of Commerce in Brussels, representatives of the
Mission of BiH to the EU Igor Lincer, Olivera Nikolić and Jasna Martinčević,
representative of the Ministry of Finance in the Mission of the RS to the
EU Uroš Stojanović and representative of the Embassy of the RS to the
Kingdom of Belgium Vladimir Radošević. The meeting discussed the possibilities
of cooperation of Vojvodina, as a region, with other actors at the regional
level that have their representative offices in Brussels.
"The office of AP Vojvodina in Brussels, together with other
representative offices of our institutions in Brussels, provides selfless support
to institutions in the country with the aim of regional connection and regional
cooperation," said the director of the "European Affairs" Fund, Ognjen Dopuđ.
The delegation also held a working meeting with representatives of the
AP Vojvodina office in Brussels, as well as a meeting in the building of the
RS Mission to the EU, where AP Vojvodina was promoted and presented in
order to network with potential EU partners - representatives of EU institutions,
representatives of regional chambers of commerce, as well as with experts
for projects and programs financed by the EU. The meeting was attended by the
general manager of Connect International Jelena Spasović, human rights expert
of the Conference of European Churches Elizabeta Kitanović, as well as the
representative of the Serbian Club Krug from Brussels, Radmila Van Os.
Director of the "European Affairs" Fund, Ognjen Dopuđ, referred to the
possibilities of institutions from Serbia and AP Vojvodina to cooperate
with institutions from the EU.
"All institutions from Vojvodina, FEP will connect with institutions from the EU
in order to participate in projects and programs financed by the EU, but also in
order to improve other types of cooperation, such as economic, cultural,
educational, etc.," Dopuđ said.
This year, Vojvodina hosted two workshops as part of the European Week of Regions
and Cities in 2023. In the framework of the workshop "How local and regional
authorities encourage behavioral change in the energy sector", the latest
knowledge in the field of energy policy was presented. Ideas and strategies
for overcoming the challenges of decarbonization in the energy sector were
exchanged and concrete examples of solutions were presented with the aim of
changing behavior and realizing the energy transition. A promo film from
the project "Exploitation of various sources in the production of "green"
energy - X DEGREE" was also presented. As part of the workshop
"Breaking down barriers in tourism: cross-border cooperation at external borders",
various ideas were presented with the aim of reducing and eliminating obstacles in
the implementation of cross-border tourism cooperation at the external borders
of the EU and regions and countries that are part of the EU Instrument for
Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA). as well as opportunities for cooperation,
with examples of good practice.
