Cities in Vojvodina, together with Belgrade and Nis, were presented at the European Parliament (EP) on Wednesday as part of the Serbia Days event.
President of the Vojvodina Executive Council Bojan Pajtic presented the cities of Vojvodina to the EP committee of regions, announced that Vojvodina will open an office in Brussels in a few days and wished to cooperate with other regions in Europe free of the burden of politics.
Vojvodina is probably the only region in Europe with 6 official languages and 27 ethnic communities, he noted, pointing out the tradition of tolerance and multiculturality in the province. Assistant mayor of Belgrade Tatjana Pasic presented the city. According to her, Belgrade has much more than its world-famous good entertainment and night life to offer.
She mentioned a rich culture and economic potential of the city and reminded everyone that the Financial Times declared Belgrade the city of the future in Southeastern Europe last year. Nis Mayor Goran Simonovic spoke of Nis’s significance as a junction between Greece and Turkey, adding that the city’s office in Brussels will become an office for the whole region next year.
Former chairman of the committee of regions and member of the Western Balkans working group Luc Van den Brande emphasized the importance of cooperation between regions and dialogue as part of the EU enlargement.
He commended Serbia on the progress made in EU integration, but added that a lot more still needed to be done, especially in terms of the cooperation between the central and local authorities.
The members of the committee were shown video presentations of Serbian regions and cities. The two-day event dedicated to Serbia ends Wednesday with a presentation of the Danube strategy.
Source emg.rs
