Ambassador Ivan Velimir Starcevic participated at the first joint forum of the Adriatic-Ionian macro-region on 19 and 20 October 2016 which brought together chambers of commerce, representatives of the cities and universities from eight member states of this regional organization. Forum, held in Olympia, brought together 125 civil society organizations from eight countries that together comprise 70 million people and three million companies.
Ambassador Starcevic in his speech stressed the importance of cooperation among civil sector within the EU regions and the co-operation at European level which will include the citizens in order to provide a necessary contribution to the strengthening of the EU at a time when the EU is facing a significant challenges. The Ambassador stressed that this cooperation includes four EU members and four non-member countries, whereas direct cooperation of civil society representatives is an important aspect of overall preparation for membership in the EU, ensuring in this way that the widest range of citizens, entrepreneurs and scientists practically accept the idea of European co-operation and the purposefulness of joining the EU.
Ambassador Starcevic and Zvonimir Sviben, member of the diplomatic staff of the Embassy, met with Croatian representatives at the Forum, the deputy mayor of Rijeka Miroslav Matešic and representatives of the University of Zadar and the Chamber of Commerce in Split, who pointed out that this form of cooperation facilitates implementation of the projects which are important for their communities. Furthermore, with Deputy Mayor of Rijeka it was agreed to design activities which could connect the City of Rijeka, as the cultural capital of Europe in 2020, with the City of Paphos, which is chosen for the Cultural Capital of Europe in 2017, and with the Greek city which will host the same event in 2021 and whose election would soon be known.
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