The mayors’ summit called “Sarajevo Mayors Summit 2026”, hosted by the mayor of Sarajevo, Samir Avdić, was held on Friday in the Sarajevo City Hall. Under the motto “From Sarajevo to the Future”, this year’s Summit was devoted to the theme “The role of capital cities in strengthening sustainable development, peace, dialogue and multiculturalism”.
During the plenary session, the mayors of Zagreb, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Pristina, Ankara, Istanbul, and Brussels discussed key challenges and opportunities for the development of modern cities, including sustainable urban development, green and digital transition, preservation of peace and multiculturalism, strengthening of regional cooperation, and development of joint projects through European funds and international partnerships.
Experiences were exchanged, guidelines for future cooperation were given, and the Sarajevo Declaration 2026 was signed and adopted, which emphasizes the important role of cities in building a more stable, connected and sustainable region.
The Mayor of Sarajevo, Samir Avdić, expressed his satisfaction at the press conference that he was able to host the mayors of Zagreb, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Pristina, then Brussels, Ankara and Istanbul, with the participation and cooperation of the head of the OSCE Mission to BiH, Ambassador Rick Holtzapple, and the head of the Delegation of the European Union to BiH, Ambassador Luigi Soreca.
He emphasized that today they sent a message from Sarajevo that cities live a very intense life and “that we who lead cities, who are the current mayors, above all, want to have satisfied citizens, but also that we must take care that they live permanently, comfortably and with quality, so that they can satisfy their existential needs”.
“This is the part that concerns urban sustainable development, climate changes that absolutely do not bypass us. Today, we are witnessing that the mayors who had the opportunity to speak and give their experiences, thoughts, and even specific recommendations on how to behave in critical situations, did so,” Avdić said.
He added that they also talked about young people, a population that needs in the future, as well as today, to create new values and to be the driver of a more prosperous and pleasant life in the future.
“All this would not be possible if we are not at peace, if we do not have an understanding of each other, if we do not have an understanding of what is other and different. So the messages of peace and stability, as well as common values and multiculturalism, were sent from Sarajevo today,” said Avdić.
The Head of the Delegation of the European Union in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Luigi Soreca, said that support is very important for the European Union, because they believe that cities and local communities play a very important role when it comes to integration into the European Union.
“So, not only here in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also for some other countries, some of which have already become members of the European Union. Therefore, our support is very important, as reflected in the Sarajevo Declaration,” said Ambassador Soreca.
“He added that the European Union will provide, in addition to financial support, support in the form of expert assistance and its partnership, so that cities become more resilient, cleaner, in which the quality of life will be better, but also better connected.
I will mention the NetZero Cities initiative, through which the European Union has already provided more than 700,000 euros, but a total of two billion euros are available to cities and the local community to support the aforementioned initiatives,” Ambassador Soreca said.
He also emphasized how important the green and digital transition is for citizens.
“We are not talking about something abstract, we are talking about very concrete initiatives, very concrete opportunities that will enable a better improvement of the lives of our citizens, but also help to transfer that quality from the local level to the national level. The European Union is available to help local communities,” stated Ambassador Soreca.
The head of the OSCE Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ambassador Rick Holtzapple, said that today’s summit showed the value of sharing experiences, and that the discussion showed the real value of exchanging concrete ideas, practical experiences and ideas about city management among mayors.
One of the reasons why the OSCE cooperates with mayors and local self-government is because mayors are closest to the citizens themselves. One of the key topics of today’s conversation was the ways in which cities and mayors can strengthen the inclusiveness of their work and participatory democracy – said amabador Holtzapple.
He added that he thinks that the Sarajevo Declaration will show the intention to strengthen the inclusivity and participation of the citizens themselves in the work.
Zagreb Mayor Tomislav Tomašević said that the relations between Zagreb and Sarajevo have been good and friendly for a long time and what they are working on is to implement these good relations even more in joint projects, especially those that could be financed from EU funds, in order to improve the quality of life of citizens.
“What we talked about a lot are topics and problems that we all have in common, where we can help ourselves, that is, our citizens, in solving these problems through joint cooperation. There were topics from politics towards young people, from economic development, transport and mobility topics, urban topics related to climate change, natural disasters…,” said Tomašević, Fena writes.
