The Mayor of Sarajevo, Samir Avdić, hosted Barcelona Mayor Jaume Collboni and the delegation of that friendly city on Monday in the City Hall, and the talks were aimed at improving long-standing cooperation and opening new areas of joint action.
The meeting discussed the possibility of formalizing future cooperation, as well as joint projects in the fields of culture, education, sports, green policies and the Olympic legacy.
The mayor of Sarajevo, Samir Avdić, reminded that Sarajevo and Barcelona have a particularly strong bond – from the Olympic heritage and friendship built during the siege of Sarajevo, to numerous joint initiatives developed by the two cities in the past almost three decades.
“Barcelona and Sarajevo have great relations, first of all as Olympic cities, but also cities connected by a deep connection from the time of aggression against Bosnia and Herzegovina and the siege of Sarajevo. Today we talked about the future of our relations and I suggested that we officially sign an agreement between Barcelona and Sarajevo,” said Avdić.
He believes that such an agreement would open up space for concrete cooperation on projects of common interest.
“We want to cooperate on projects related to green policies, the Olympic legacy that we carry as Olympic cities, but also culture, education and sports. It is important that we all contribute and translate the friendship between Sarajevo and Barcelona into concrete projects,” said Avdić.
The Mayor of Barcelona, Jaume Collboni, thanked the hosts for the reception and pointed out that Sarajevo and Barcelona are entering a new phase of relations, one in which, while preserving the common heritage and experience of building peace, they want to develop new partnership projects.
“Today we talked about the relationships we have been building for almost 30 years, but also about new directions of cooperation. We no longer want to act only in the way we did it in previous decades, but we want to be partners in new projects and build the future together,” said Collboni.
He especially highlighted the historical role of Manel Vila, an honorary citizen of Sarajevo, who came to the besieged city during the war and helped build connections between Sarajevo and Barcelona.
“We received a message from the daughters and sons of people who survived the war in Sarajevo and those who witnessed the building of cooperation between our two cities. Their message is clear: our fathers built peace and friendship, and we want to build the future – said Collboni.
In this context, the mayor of Barcelona sent Mayor Avdić an invitation to participate in the Euromed conference, which brings together the cities of the Mediterranean. Sarajevo has not yet participated in that network, and Collboni announced his support for its inclusion in future activities.
The goal, emphasized Mayor Collboni, is to expand the existing cooperation, based primarily on building peace and friendship, to concrete projects that will connect Sarajevo and Barcelona as European and Olympic cities.
