European Centre for Art, Culture and Science

Friday October 3 2008 / Europe

Forum Belgrade II

Representatives of civil society, culture, business and policy-making at the local, regional and European level, including members of the European Parliament and the European Commission, will attend Forum Belgrade. Invited panellists include: Sepp Kusstatscher and Jelko Kacin, Members of the European Parliament; Jan Truszczynski, Deputy Director General Enlargement, European Commission; Miklos Marschall, Transparency International; Erhard Busek, Special Coordinator of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI); Branka Prpa, Director of the Historical Archive of Belgrade; Helena Drnovšek-Zorko, Head of the Division for International Cultural Relations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Republic of Slovenia; Goran Svilanović, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.
The discussions will focus on how to strengthen the cooperation between civil society and the political decision-makers and how to develop a culture of democracy.

Forum Belgrade 2008 will be the second Forum to be held in the Serbian capital. It is a continuation of the process that started with the first Forum Belgrade (March 2007) attended by over 250 participants from 18 different countries. Forum Belgrade is building on the success and the supra-regional influence gained from the first edition and is developing into a permanent initiative, including an International Advisory Board composed of political decision-makers and personalities from culture, business and the media from Serbia and Europe. Furthermore, workshops on related topics will be organised in 2008-2009.

Forum Belgrade serves as a role model for the Balkan region and beyond. It exemplifies the message that such an event organized by local civil society initiatives in cooperation with European partners can bring about stabilizing effects and practical change. It shows that collaboration between civil society and local authorities works and triggers a snowball effect in the region and beyond.  

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