OPEN DOOR OF THE EUROPEAN DIPLOMATIC CORPS

By the reception at the embassy of the Republic of Serbia in Austria in February this year, we opened the door to the embassies of Serbia to young people in Novi Sad and Novi Sad, as the European Youth Capital. That was also the first official presentation of the City of Novi Sad as the holder of the prestigious European title. As the Mayor of Novi Sad, Miloš Vučević said, the OPENS 2019 project is the project for the future.

“This year and in the following years, we want to help the development and improvement of the life for young people in all of the country by our example. Amazing people are growing up in our city, those who do not sit and wait for someone to give them a chance, but fight for it in order to use it for general good, for the development of all of the community and for even better results which the generations after them will have. The city of Novi Sad has opened its door for all creative, well-intentioned people who see youth and education as the largest potential for the development and who want to use that for our mutual future”, Vučević stated.

Novi Sad has active Youth Office, Novi Sad Youth Forum, for young people to participate in the committees for granting funds for projects, but first of all, it has a defined system and several times duplicated amounts for financing the projects in the field of youth policy.

“The example of the European Youth Capital can be very useful in different processes where Serbia participates, because in that way we show that when it is locally worked in a quality manner, when different actors are included, when young people are included in decision-making processes – results are there. The results in quality programmes, response to such programmes and local changes, as well as the results at the national and European level in terms of using the example of good practice which can still be applied in Serbia, Europe and more. In that way, we can show that when we all sit together, make arrangements and are included in decision-making process, such effects are achieved”, Vukašin Grozdanović, OPENS 2019 Coordinator explains.

Therefore, the project of the presentation of European Youth Capital Novi Sad 2019 primarily to the diplomatic corps of Europe and European non-government organisations continues.

The next stop: the city of love – Paris.

In cooperation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia and the embassy of the Republic of Serbia in France, OPENS is organising a reception at the Culture-Informative Centre of the Republic of Serbia in Paris, in order to present the possibilities for young people in 2019 in Novi Sad, as well as the global and European dimension of this title. The idea is to create the space for networking and partnership with the organisations and institutions from Paris, as well as to introduce the wider community with the activities in Novi Sad in 2019.

“The opportunity we got with the support of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to talk about young people at such events is unbelievable. When it comes to diplomacy, those are mostly political events, with the “grown-up” topics. This is an amazing opportunity for young people to be a part of the agenda. For them to be on the first place. That that is not just an empty story, but that young people are those who are included and who present their country in the best way possible”, Valentina Antić, OPENS2019 International Cooperation Coordinator says.

In the next two months, several hundred representatives of the diplomatic corps of Europe, the representatives of European non-government organisations and different governments and local administrations in the cities across Europe will hear about Novi Sad – the city of young people. The idea is to introduce them, along with the city of Novi Sad to the most important projects of Novi Sad, and to invite them to visit the City which is the holder the two prestigious European titles in the year of young people.