EUROPEAN CAPITAL IN MOSCOW: CHANCES AND RESPONSIBILITIES

Along with Miloš Vučević, the Mayor of Novi Sad and the delegations of The City and The Ministry of Sport and Youth, European Youth Capital Novi Sad presented the possibilities for young people in 2019, as well as the global and European dimension of this title in Moscow. This was the seventh European centre in which the City of Young People opened the door to dozens of foreign ambassadors, representatives of the Russian parliament, international youth organizations and diplomatic corps. The reception was organised at the Embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Moscow.

“You are the future. Even though that is often just a saying. That is why receptions and connections like this one are important. The fact that this many people, so many important representatives of institutions and companies are here is an indicator of the reputation Novi Sad create for itself. And young people are the best example of that”, Slavenko Terzić, the Ambassador of the Serbia in Moscow says.

The idea of the presentation to embassies and diplomatic corps of European cities is to create the space for networking and partnership with organizations and institutions from Moscow, as well as to inform the wider community about the activities in Novi Sad in 2019. The receptions organised by European Youth Capital Novi Sad, with the support of The City of Novi Sad and The Ministry of Foreign Affairs at youth centres across Europe come in the moment when the Council of Europe announces almost complete decrease of the budget intended for young people in Europe.

“For OPENS, it is very important to return to Novi Sad from these meetings and receptions with partnerships and to see how we can transfer our example of good practice across Europe. At this moment, Novi Sad chairs the network of youth capitals, and that network will be formalised in Novi Sad during this year, we will have the opportunity to host in Novi Sad several mayors from the cities which have been youth capitals by now, as well as from the cities we have visited, to formalise the cooperation and see what in particular we can bring to Novi Sad. How to bring new energy, young people and see how we can cooperate”, Vukašin Grozdanović, OPENS Coordinator says.

All of that is unsustainable unless you think on the long run and since each program is self-sustainable, regardless of donors. By now, we have hosted Youth European Forum, been at the margins of numerous meetings and had more than 75,000 young people in our city. According to Miloš Vučević, the Mayor of Novi Sad, Novi Sad is the pioneer of youth policy in Serbia and it provides a good example for the entire country.

“We cannot close ourselves in our yard, we have to spread the good image and news about us. Our key message is that 2019 is not just the goal for itself, but the direction where Novi Sad will go next. I deeply believe in that, and the precondition for achieving those results is the inclusion of young people and youth organisations in direct processes related to youth policy and I would say that we have done a lot of that in Novi Sad so we can be an example of good practice not only in Serbia but in the cities across Europe”, Vučević adds.

The idea of these receptions is to introduce Europe with the most important projects of Novi Sad and to send the invitation for the visit of the City which is the holder of two prestigious European titles in 2019.