The 21st European Week of Regions and Cities 2023 was held in Brussels.
In the period from October 10 to October 12, 2023, in Brussels, is the 21st European Week of Regions and Cities 2023.
The delegation of AP Vojvodina – led by the undersecretary for regional development, interregional cooperation and local self-government Aleksandra Sitarević, and included by the director of the “Evropski poslovi” Fund Ognjen Dopuđ, as well as the assistant directors of the “Evropski poslovi” Fund Kristina Bašić and Ivana Đurica – I participated in the conference held on October 10 at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia and the Kingdom of Belgium, attended by: representative of the Republic of Srpska in Brussels Nemanja Malić, Marko Mandić from CEFTA, Marko Petrović from the Chamber of Commerce of Serbia in Brussels, representatives of the Mission of BiH pri EU Igor Lincer, Olivera Nikolić and Jasna Martinčević, representative of the Ministry of Finance and Mission RS pri EU Uroš Stojanović and representative of the RS Embassy pri Kraljevini Belgije Vladimir Radošević. At the meeting, there was talk about the possibilities of cooperation of Vojvodina, as a region, with other regional actors who have their representatives in Brussels.
“The Chancellery of AP Vojvodina in Brussels, together with the other representatives of our institutions in Brussels, gives necessary support to the institutions in the country in order to connect regionally and achieve regional cooperation”, said the director of the “Evropski Poslovi” Fund, Ognjen Dopuđ.
The delegation held a working meeting with representatives of the AP Vojvodina office in Brussels, as well as a meeting at the building of the RS Mission to the EU to promote and present AP Vojvodina in order to network with potential EU partners – representatives of EU institutions, representatives of regional chambers of commerce, as well as sa eksperatima za projekte i programe finanizane od strane EU. The session was attended by the general manager of Connect International Jelena Spasović, expert for human rights Konferencije evropsov crkava Elizabeta Kitanović, as well as the representative of Srpskog kluba Krug iz Brisela Radmila Van Os. Direktor Fonda “Evropski poslovi” Ognjen Dopuđ looked at 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 promote other types of cooperation, such as private, cultural, educational and others,” said Dopuđ.
This year, Vojvodina hosted two workshops at the European Week of Regions and Cities in 2023. In the framework of the workshop “How local and regional governments encourage behavioral change in the energy sector”, the latest knowledge in energy policy areas is presented. Ideas and strategies for overcoming the challenge of decarbonization in the energy sector were exchanged and concrete prime solutions aimed at changing behavior and realizing energy transition were presented. A promo film from the project “Exploitation of different sources and production of “green” energy – X DEGREE” was presented. In the framework of the workshop “Breaking barriers in tourism: cross-border cooperation on external borders” various ideas were presented in order to reduce and eliminate obstacles and realize cross-border tourism cooperation on the external borders of the EU and regions and countries that are part of the EU Pre-accession Assistance Instrument (IPA), as well as opportunities for co-operation, with examples of good practice.