Ahmed, a visual arts student from Bosnia and Herzegovina, recounts how his student exchange in Turkey ‘changed him as a person’
Ahmed is one of many visual arts and communication design professionals in Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, he took an unusual route to his current profession. Ahmed studied theology at high school. “To be honest, during my high school education, I didn’t think I was talented, and this affected my overall psychological well-being. I was really depressed because I could not figure out what subject I should study at university,” he says.
Ahmed was in doubt about his future profession throughout high school but just before graduation his best friend told him that he was planning to apply to study visual arts and communication design at the International University in Sarajevo. Ahmed decided to try to join him though he was not at all sure he had enough talent for this new endeavour. As he explains, it was an instinct coming from inside that made him take this decision. To his surprise, he was selected. Apparently, he did have talent.
“I became deeply involved in all the subjects. I had little background knowledge, but I was willing to learn and explore. To fill the gap, I worked hard day and night”
Hard work pays off
The course included various subjects such as graphic design, photo, video editing and painting. All of these subjects were totally new to Ahmed. “I became deeply involved in all the subjects. I had little background knowledge, but I was willing to learn and explore. To fill the gap, I worked hard day and night,” he says.
His hard work paid off. Ahmed won a scholarship from the university that covered 50% of his tuition fees. As he continued to improve and gain in self-confidence, he started to make plans about expanding his skills further with international experience. But he did not have financial means to do this, so he knew he needed to find support.
The official language at the International University in Sarajevo is English, a language that was not one of Ahmed’s strong points. He therefore had to take a language course for non-English speakers. He explains that participation in this course contributed to opening his mind and way of thinking because, in addition to the language learning, the same course included topics like critical thinking and career planning. The professor also introduced them to the ERASMUS+ programme that provides scholarships for students who want to study abroad. Ahmed jumped at the opportunity.
A Turkish delight
He was given an opportunity to continue his studies at Anadolu University in Eskisehir in Turkey. Ahmed explains that at that time he was happy to go anywhere. He had never heard about this university and he did not even google it. “When I got there, I realised that it was the best choice I ever made because I fell in love with the city, the university and the people. I felt like I was not on this planet. Those five months were the best five months in my life,” says Ahmed.
“It sounds clichéd, but I became more open-minded. I changed for the better.”
ERASMUS+ is the EU’s programme to support education, training, youth and sport in Europe. Its budget of €14.7 billion provides opportunities for over 4 million Europeans to study, train, and gain experience abroad.
One of the things that he says he appreciates most from the experience at the Eskisehir university is the approach of the professors who were very supportive and ready to help whenever he needed. He remembers that this was particularly true for visiting students like him. Ahmed considerably developed his professional capacity during his stay at the Anadolu University, but he also gained other benefits.
Growing confidence
Ahmed says that before going to Eskisehir, he was more introverted. The experience in Eskisehir changed him. When he came back to Sarajevo, he realised how different he was. He began to apply for voluntary programmes and projects and became a regular at the university’s voluntary service.
“As things were so great on my Erasmus programme I wanted to connect to other EU programmes. I recently became a member of the Erasmus student network. It sounds clichéd, but I became more open-minded. I changed for the better,” says Ahmed.
Ahmed graduated this summer and is currently working part-time, but he aims to find a full-time job that is fully related to his major. At some point in the future, he hopes to establish a business of his own.
The career of a young Montenegrin actress takes off thanks to EU-funded play, Kapital
Jelena, 22, has held an affection for the arts and, in particular, for acting from a very young age. At school she regularly participated in activities related to drama and acting. But back then she didn’t know that when the time came to choose her professional career this joy would also bring along some complications.
During high school, acting had become a real passion for her and she started considering it seriously as her lifetime profession. Her family and some of her friends advised her that choosing acting as a profession could be risky.
“They said that there was no money in acting and that you couldn’t live on a love for the arts. I think there is a bit of truth in that, but I also think that if you want to do something – if you are dedicated and if you really love what you do – you can make it happen,” she says.
In any case, Jelena was doubtful as to whether she could pass the entrance exam for the Drama Faculty. She made sure she had a plan B and a plan C in case she didn’t get a place. In the meantime, she worked hard with constant preparation for the exam. Luckily for her, plan A worked out and she was accepted at the Drama Faculty.
“If you want to do something – if you are dedicated and if you really love what you do – you can make it happen”
A really big deal
However, as she says ‘this was not the happy ending’ as challenges for an artist do not end by enrolling at university. She knew that she had to work hard and learn a lot, which she was ready for. But she was still far from sure that this hard work would have any tangible results in terms of a successful career and financial stability.
However, in her first year she was invited to audition for a play – or, as she likes to call it, a performance. The play was being developed as part of the EU Collective Plays! project funded through the European Union’s Creative Europe Programme. A few months later, she was informed that she was accepted. This was her first play.
It is unusual for first-year students to perform in a play, let alone in one that involves international performance. “This was a really big deal!” Jelena says.
“It is a very strong performance. It has a lot of music in it and it presents many different perspectives on each topic or problem. So, people were shocked, and people were amazed; people were crying, and people were laughing.”
The EU Collective Plays! project promotes international cooperation between playwrights, theatre organisations and communities of different nationalities for sharing creation and staging of collective plays. The project also promotes young playwrights and their careers, and their recognition at the European and global level. The project experiments with the widening of theatre audiences by the diffusion of different types of workshops, shows and educational laboratories.
Opening opportunities
The name of the performance was Kapital, and the idea behind the play was to question everything – from theories that people accept as truth to figures about poverty, official statistics on the consumer society, to nationalistic debates.
“I was thrilled. First of all, I was getting an opportunity to work with the well-known director András Urbán. It was very different from classical theatre, so working with him taught me that classical theatre is not the only theatre. There are many other ways to approach topics and the problems that are happening right now and not only in some books or plays,” she says.
The cast travelled widely with the play, both within and outside of Montenegro, and as a result, she was invited to auditions and was asked to perform in other plays.
Besides Kapital, there were other plays and performances developed by partners as part of the EU Collective Plays! Project. The project partners have set up nine playwriting transnational collective groups and finalised nine new original plays, which have been written collaboratively.
Kapital received positive reviews and wide acclaim from the audiences in cities where they performed. “It is a very strong performance. It has a lot of music in it and it presents many different perspectives on each topic or problem. So, people were shocked, and people were amazed; people were crying, and people were laughing,” Jelena says.
And maybe within the audiences was another young girl, wide-eyed at the magic of theatre and beginning to believe that if you really want something you can make it happen.
A young scientist from Montenegro brings his passion for scientific research to a transnational project on renewable energy
While most of Mihailo’s friends were interested in playing football and other games in the school yard, his preferred playground was the school lab. He doesn’t know where this passion for science came from: “I don’t remember having any particular external reason that inspired me for science, somehow it was always in me,” he says.
Throughout his childhood, his passion for science kept growing. He was praised by his teachers and in high school he began to win awards for his scientific experiments. “In high school I began to work more on topics related to electrical engineering. As a result, when I finished high school, the decision to study electrical engineering was only natural,” he says.
Mihailo enrolled at the Electrical Engineering Faculty of the University of Podgorica. As a dedicated student, he continued getting high grades and soon caught the attention of his professors. He was one of the best students of his year group and soon after graduation he was invited to work as an assistant professor at the Engineering Faculty. While Mihailo was happy about this, he also had some hesitations. His primary goal was still to work on research and scientific studies, and he was not sure if his new position would allow him enough time and opportunity to follow his passion.
“Our present and the future of the whole planet and energy system depends on renewable energy sources”
Bigger and better
Montenegro is a small country with only around 600,000 residents. Consequently, the University of Podgorica has limited resources for work on bigger scientific projects. Meanwhile, Mihailo had this urge inside him to work on something bigger that would have an impact not only in Montenegro but also beyond the borders of his country.
Soon after Mihailo started as an assistant, the faculty approached him with another opportunity within the EU-funded Crossbow project. It was exactly what he was looking for: an important new field of experimentation that would have a positive impact on a much larger number of people.
Crossing borders
Thirteen countries participate in the project, with Montenegro among them. Its aim is to promote cross-border management of variable renewable energies and storage units with the final goal of empowering a transnational wholesale market in renewable energies.
Scientific teams from all of the partner countries worked on different components of the project. “Honestly, first, I was surprised that I was offered this great opportunity knowing that I didn’t have lots of experience. I was full of enthusiasm, and I happily accepted the invitation,” he says.
Mihailo’s tasks as part of this project included solar and biomass energy modelling. This involves predicting the energy production from these types of power plants, which he says is, “something new and interesting and exciting.”
Mihailo participated in workshops and conferences organised as part of the project. The workshops provided him with an opportunity to meet scientists who have carried out important work on renewable and power energy from partner countries. This was a very important learning experience, as he had very little knowledge and experience in this field.
“The work on the project took a lot of time and energy, I did not feel any pressure or exhaustion as for me this was like living in a dream,” he says.
Mihailo completed his role in the project successfully and says he learned many new and vital things. Now he is looking forward to further experiences in the renewable energy field because, as he says, “our present and the future of the whole planet and energy system depends on renewable energy sources.”
“The work on the project took a lot of time and energy, I did not feel any pressure or exhaustion as for me this was like living in a dream.”
About the project
Crossbow is a €17.2 million project in the smart grids sector funded by the research and innovation programme of the European Commission, Horizon2020. Twenty-four partners participate from 13 European countries, with eight national transmission system operators. The project began in November 2017 and will last four years.
A start-up founded by a young entrepreneur from Serbia is growing despite a challenging business climate
Strahinja Tirnanić, 31, is an entrepreneur from Serbia. He started his career as a web administrator at a company that manages an online employment portal and quickly made his way up the ladder, earning a promotion to Marketing and PR Manager and Business Developer.
At that point, he realised that he could probably start and run a business of his own. “I’d held the idea of running my own business inside me for a long time. After six years of experience in business, continuous education and a good base of business contacts, my self-confidence had grown. I decided the time was right to make the entrepreneurial leap,” he says.
Making the leap
His research showed a shortage of marketing and management consulting services in the market. These were the areas where he had skills.
He developed a business plan, quit his job and registered his own start-up consultancy company specialising in those fields. However, like many other young entrepreneurs in the Western Balkans, he needed additional support – in particular, to help in exploring new markets outside of Serbia and learning how to manage projects remotely.
A timely promotion on social media introduced him to the EU-funded Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE) programme.
“I saw an event on Facebook about an information day for the programme taking place in my city. As I was just on my way to Switzerland for a holiday, I contacted the organisers and asked if we could schedule a meeting for my return. They agreed, and as I set off for Geneva, I felt my journey in international business was really starting!”
“I decided the time was right to make the entrepreneurial leap”
The project that supported Strahinja is called StartUp2. It facilitates the exchanges, learning and networking for new entrepreneurs. The exchange takes place during a stay abroad with an experienced entrepreneur, who helps the new entrepreneur acquire the skills needed to run a small firm.
This was exactly what Strahinja was looking for.
Off to Slovenia
He chose to visit Slovenia for his exchange and selected the Luxembourg Slovenian Business Club (LSBC) as the host organisation. He was attracted by the array of activities they were involved in, new ways of working and a creative and intercultural environment. “I was sure that this would be a great challenge for me, and I was also looking forward to exploring Slovenia and its business environment.”
He stayed in Slovenia for three months, an experience he looks back on as the best time of his career and life so far. With advisors working throughout the world, the LSBC has great experience in remote operations. One of the most important things that Strahinja says he learned during his stay was how to manage people remotely. He also upgraded his digital skills for improving productivity and efficiency. However, it is the network of people that he considers the most valuable gain from the exchange.
Networks create business
During his stay, Strahinja participated in many business events and worked on expanding his network. As a result, his Customer Relationship Management system now includes the names of over 60 executives whom he met at events – with a particular point of pride that among them is the globally renowned US entrepreneur and founder of multiple start-ups, Jeff Hoffman!
Strahinja came back with five clients and partners from Slovenia with whom he still collaborates. One of them is PGN.global, a start-up for innovative technologies, whom he says is his biggest client. Since then he has hired two new colleagues, moved to new offices and gained two new clients.
Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, Strahinja has experienced considerable growth over the last six months. He gives special credit to the StartUp2 project for this success. “I believe that this success is a result of our ability to work remotely and our focus on the international market. These are the things I learned at the LSCB in Slovenia,” he says.
“I believe that this success is a result of our ability to work remotely and our focus on the international market. These are the things I learned at LSCB in Slovenia”
Strahinja is one of many young people who have benefited from StartUp2. The project has so far supported 128 entrepreneurs from different countries with on-the-job training, facilitating and consolidating successful start-ups and helping small firms gain a foothold in other European markets. It is run by a consortium of eight partners from Finland, France, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Serbia, Spain, and the UK – and is coordinated by CESIE (European Centre of Studies and Initiatives) from Italy. The Business Development Centre from Kragujevac is the project partner in Serbia.
StartUp2 is supported by Erasmus for Young Entrepreneurs (EYE), which is a cross-border exchange programme giving new or aspiring entrepreneurs the chance to learn from experienced entrepreneurs running small businesses in other participating countries. The host benefits from fresh perspectives and opportunities to build links with foreign partners and learn about new markets. Serbia takes part in the programme, along with all other countries in the Western Balkans.
Efforts to preserve the oldest spruce tree in Europe get support from the European Union
The Picea omorika, also known as the Serbian spruce, is a living fossil tree native to a small area at the border of Serbia with Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was declared a protected species in 1955 but scientists say it will disappear soon if the issues related to its preservation are not addressed.
In the evolutionary sense, it is the oldest existing tree in Europe, but ironically it was not identified untile 1875 – one of the last trees to be discovered.
Professor Milan Mataruga from Banja Luka University in Bosnia and Herzegovina is one of the leading scientists working on the conservation of this rare plant.
“I first found out about the Picea omorika when I was a student at the Forestry Faculty of the University of Belgrade in 1991. We had a field visit to the area where the tree is endemic, and it was love at first sight. I was immediately captivated by this beautiful rare plant, and since then it has been my favourite species,” he says.
From then on, Professor Mataruga dreamt of taking some time off to work on the preservation of Picea omorika. The last time anything similar was done was almost seventy years ago, in 1951, and the professor knew that a new range of initiatives was needed. However, in between academic and family obligations, and with a lack of funds, he could not find a way to make progress toward his dream.
“I was immediately captivated by this beautiful rare plant, and since then it has been my favourite species.”Working together
The chance came in 2019 when Professor Mataruga started working on an EU-funded project focused on preserving this rare endemic species. The project works to assess the status of the Picea omorika population, propose measures for its preservation, and raise awareness about its conservation among the people of the region, particularly with young people throughout the area where Picea omorika grows.
The project sites are located on both sides of the Drina river, and the project will protect twenty Picea omorika habitats in the cross-border region. The activities are implemented jointly by the Tara National Park public enterprise in Serbia and the Forests of Republika Srpska public enterprise in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Marijana Josipović from Tara National Park explains that the overall goal of the project is to contribute to the conservation of the area’s biodiversity, including the protection of the Picea omorika. She explains that the project partners work together to support the survival of these species through improved management of the threatened habitat of the Picea omorika, raising awareness of the importance of endangered species.
“The preservation of this plant is most importantly a legacy for future generations.”
Creating a legacy
Dr Jelena Aleksić, from the Institute of Molecular Genetics and Genetic Engineering in Belgrade, emphasises the need for a comprehensive genetic study, a management plan and a long-term strategy for the Picea omorika to survive in these areas.
Professor Mataruga is also looking at the long term. He says that an important outcome of the project is the volunteer involvement of the students involved. He knows from first-hand experience the impact this precious tree can make on young people, concluding: “The preservation of this plant is most importantly a legacy for future generations.”
The project is supported through the EU funded Cross-Border Programme – Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
A young entrepreneur from Serbia travels to a small village in Spain to learn the art of business
Torralba de Ribota has only 120 residents and its economy could be described as far from vibrant. This village in northeast Spain has no shops and only one bar, and the inhabitants’ main source of income is farming. Yet it is here that 31 years old Serbian entrepreneur, Mladen Savković, chose to spend a month to improve his business skills.
Mladen is a public relations (PR) professional who, after working for ten years in journalism and freelance PR for art and cultural activities, recently opened his own PR agency. However, Mladen realised that he needed support to perform better.
“I came across a story about a woman from Serbia who founded a homemade pasta company. To improve her business, she had successfully applied for EU funding to go to Sicily for a few months to learn the craft from experts. That seemed ideal to me! So I started researching how she got to go there,” he says.
“I thought that if you learn how to engage an audience there, you can engage an audience anywhere.”
This is how Mladen found out about the MOVE-YE project, which is funded under the European Union’s COSME programme. Like many other young people, Mladen jumped at the chance of a working visit to an EU country. As he speaks Spanish, Spain seemed like an obvious choice.
Where to go?
His first idea was to go to Madrid or Barcelona. He explains that he had plenty of host company options, most of them in tourism, IT and other sectors. But he was attracted by an opportunity in the cultural sector that came up in Torralba de Ribota.
“I was interviewed by two ladies who ran the Saltamontes Festival of art and music in the village, and was really impressed. This is a small village, and they have managed to organise a successful arts festival! I thought to myself if you can learn how to engage an audience there, you can engage an audience anywhere and decided that this was the right opportunity for me.”
Mladen spent a full month working at the Saltamontes Festival. He saw the importance of promoting art and culture outside of urban areas, where it still forms a vital part of everyday life, but in a slightly different way. “I have become more aware of the importance of engaging with the local community and listening to their cultural needs and interests,” he says.
“I have become more aware of the importance of engaging with the local community and listening to their cultural needs and interests.”
The EU-funded MOVE-YE (Mobilising Entrepreneurial Values and Ideas Across Europe) project aims to enhance entrepreneurial culture and the networking between European entrepreneurs. Funded under the COSME programme, it offers both young and experienced entrepreneurs the opportunity to observe different business practices, understand new markets, and internationalise and innovate their business via a cross-border mobility scheme.
Bringing the experience home
Mladen mostly works with institutions that organise cultural events and festivals. Now he is planning to introduce to his clients in Serbia the audience engagement methods that he learned in Spain. “You can make an exhibition and just put it there. But I learned that it is important to work with the audience and focus on engaging the community more intensely. The experience at the Saltamontes Festival made me think about ideas that I can implement here in Serbia,” he says.
A Serbian clothing business that blends creativity with eco-design is thriving with EU support
Regenerik is one of a new wave of innovative clothing brands gaining ground in Serbia. The company produces urban clothing and handmade accessories from materials like natural fibres and recycled and biodegradable materials. This type of manufacturing is not very common in Serbia, or in the rest of the Western Balkan region.
Danica Tomić is one of the founders of Regenerik.
She graduated as an architect and until a year ago she never thought of herself working as anything else.
After graduation, she took up an internship opportunity at an architectural firm, but soon became frustrated with the nature of the administrative tasks assigned to interns. Danica had a burning desire to do something creative.
From architecture to fashion
When a close friend quit his job and suggested she join him in a new business, she agreed under one condition – that the work in the start-up would use her creativity.
Her sister soon joined the team and the newly-formed trio had plenty of energy, but they lacked a specific business idea. Nor did they have any ideas as to where they could turn for advice.
“When I participated in the first workshop, I had no clear idea about the type of business I wanted to start… I am an architect, but I always had a passion for fashion design.”
Danica is a proactive person, so she immediately began searching online and asking her friends for advice on starting a business. One friend told her about a programme for start-ups funded by the European Union, supporting young entrepreneurs in developing their business skills.
“When I participated in the first workshop, I had no clear idea about the type of business I wanted to start… I am an architect, but I always had a passion for fashion design, and following the discussion and analysis with the mentors on the course I decided to start Regenerik,” says Danica.
Danica also improved her skills in product development and presentation at these workshops, as well as learning about business management. Combining this knowledge with her passion, she and her friends successfully launched their business. They have since expanded, hiring additional employees who work together on the manufacture of Regenerik products.
“I feel better and more comfortable when I know that other people will grow together with us.This is the core idea of Regenerik: joint work, joint benefits and protection of the environment.”
The project also aimed to impact the employability of young people in the long term. The project partners worked on developing the capacities of over 120 civil society organisations in the Western Balkans so that they could cooperate in designing and implementing innovative approaches to youth employability and employment.
The project is run by the Belgrade Open School along with partners from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro, and the Olof Palme International Centre (Sweden).
Small is the best fit
Danica does not dream of a big company. She says she would be delighted if her business continued to grow steadily so she could engage more people who could work on the handmade manufacturing of Regenerik products.
“I feel better and more comfortable when I know that other people will grow together with us, and this is the core of the idea of Regenerik: joint work, joint benefits and protection of the environment,” she says.
The training programme that Danica participated in was organised by the EU-funded WeB4YES project. Along with Danica, over 1,000 other young people from the Western Balkans have benefitted from new skills and launched start-ups or been employed in other companies following participation in this project.
A Macedonian music production company teaching musicians the art of the music business.
Luka Gorgievski, 26, is a member of the band Funk Shui from North Macedonia. Founded in 2010, the band describes its music as free flow. When asked about his inspiration to become a musician, Luka says: “It was mesmerising when I found out that humans can communicate through something other than words. It is almost an elite privilege.”
“Knowing that, I cherish the gift and try to make more people smile and dance, and take away their fear. And they feel it. By chance, I learned how to make it work,” he adds.
The band has several recordings and is well known in North Macedonia and other countries in the Western Balkans. However, their professional music journey has had many challenges too. When asked what these challenges were, Luka says ‘What was not a challenge would be a better question. There were loads of them!’
“It was mesmerising when I found out that humans can communicate through something other than words. It is almost an elite privilege.”
Learning the business of art
The business aspect of their work was one of the main challenges. Funk Shui resolved this problem by cooperating with a professional music manager.
Gorjana Jordanovska, who works for Password Production, a music management company, explains that most artists in North Macedonia are “not educated in the music business”.
“They don’t know how to sell themselves. They don’t know how to work in this professional music world. They only know how to play,” she says.
“They don’t know how to sell themselves…They only know how to play”
Not just for musicians
In addition, HEMI will also facilitate publishing of content and news promotion, linking upcoming and famous artists, entrepreneurs, festival promoters, cultural venue event managers, music schools and more, under a common music marketing community.
The project began in 2019 and will run until the end of 2023. By then, the project will have supported music artists by launching a platform for the promotion and business education of music artists. The project will also offer the HEMI Music Innovation Incubator where musicians will learn how to use ICT and online marketing for promoting their music further, as well as business development and management skills to meet the current and future challenges of the music industry.
So while Luka’s music is making people smile and dance, Gorjana and her colleagues are ensuring that he and his fellow artists in the region are operating on a solid business foundation.
Password Production decided to address this challenge systematically with the aim of helping their clients and other musicians with music business education. Along with partners from Czechia, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Serbia and Slovenia, they launched a project named Hub for the Exchange of Music Innovation in Central and South-Eastern Europe, or HEMI. The project is funded by the European Union’s Creative Europe programme.
“The HEMI project provides expertise, consultancy and training modules to music professionals in Central and South-Eastern Europe, responding to the current and future needs of the sector in the region but also more widely across Europe,” Gorjana says.
Gorjana believes that this project will be an essential contribution to the professional development of the music community. Apart from access to professional consultancy in business education, artists will also have an opportunity to perform in festivals organised by partner organisations in all nine countries in the project.
František Topič is one of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s most prominent and pioneering photographers, who spent much of his working life in the then Provincial Museum of BiH, first as an archivist and then as a librarian, secretary and photographer. His rare collection of pictures dating from the late 19th and early 20th centuries have recently been collected and presented in an exhibition titled “Between Two Empires: Bosnia and Herzegovina photographed by František Topič 1885-1919”. The pictures included in the exhibition are mostly unpublished.
These images show the meeting of two civilisations – the departing Ottomans and the newly arrived Austro-Hungarians – a century ago. Following the exhibition’s tour in Zagreb and Ljubljana, now the people of Užice in Serbia have the opportunity to see these attractive photographs.
The exhibition is supported through an EU funded project “Museum Stories”.
In the last six years, the EU has set aside more than €170 million for flood prevention, as well as for recovery and reconstruction in Serbia. Valjevo is only one of the Serbian towns that has benefitted from that money. A total of six kilometres along the Jablanica, Kolubara, and Obnica rivers around Valjevo have been protected from floods. Valjevo is now probably Serbia’s one of the most protected towns.
The completion of the works was marked near the Veselinović bridge over the river Obnica. In attendance were the Head of the European Union Delegation to Serbia, Ambassador Sem Fabrizi, as well as the Director of the Austrian Cultural Centre, Adrian Feix on behalf of his country’s Embassy, and the Mayor of Valjevo, Lazar Gojković, the director of Srbijavode, Goran Puzović and the director of the Office for Public Investment Management, Marko Blagojević.
“I am glad to be in this city again,” said Ambassador Sem Fabrizi. “Last month, I was in Valjevo to meet with medical staff hired by the EU to fight COVID-19 in Serbia. On that occasion, I promised the mayor that I would come again to mark the end of the project to protect the citizens of Valjevo from the flood.” The Ambassador also recalled the great floods of 2014, when 50 municipalities in Serbia and 1.5 million people were affected by the catastrophe. Then, too, the EU showed its solidarity in the efforts to recover from the consequences of the flooding.
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