Minister of Culture and Media Tamara Vujović held a series of bilateral meetings on the sidelines of the meeting of the Management Platform of the Western Balkans for Culture, where the building of the capacity of the culture sector was emphasized and joint activities and projects were agreed upon in order to improve cooperation, the Ministry of Culture and Media (MKM) announced.
As announced, Vujović met with the Minister of Culture and Innovation of Hungary, Balaža Hanka, the Minister of Culture and Tourism of North Macedonia, Zoran Ljutkov, and the Deputy Director General of the Directorate for Education, Youth Culture and Sports, Normundus Poppens.
At the meeting with Hank, the success of Montenegro in the European integration process was emphasized, as well as Hungary's support in speeding up the process and our country's full membership in the EU.
"Speaking about cooperation in the field of culture, Ministers Vujović and Hanko emphasized that the Program on Cultural Cooperation signed for the period 2024-2027 is an excellent basis for improving cooperation between cultural institutions, and that the two ministries will identify national institutions in the coming period cultures that, through direct cooperation, will contribute to connecting Hungary and Montenegro," the announcement states.
Hank emphasized a new perspective in the relations between Hungary and the countries of the Western Balkans, when it comes to cooperation in the field of education.
As it is written in the announcement, the space for the exchange of programs and the organization of the presentation of Montenegrin culture in Hungary was particularly emphasized.
Hungary has been organizing the "Week of Hungarian Culture in Montenegro" event for years, presenting rich and diverse programs.
Vujović met with Ljutkov in Skopje.
It was established that based on the cooperation program in the field of culture, a large number of programs were held in North Macedonia and Montenegro in the previous period, which aimed to present and connect our two cultures.
The current program on cultural cooperation was signed last year for the period until the end of 2026 and represents a framework for further networking of the cultural institutions of the two countries.
"Montenegro and North Macedonia cherish common values, they have a lot of space for cooperation in the field of culture, especially in the field of protection and preservation of cultural heritage and its digitization. In this context, specific cooperation between institutions dealing with the protection and preservation of cultural assets, as well as the exchange of experts and information in the field of digitalization of cultural heritage, was agreed upon," said Vujović.
Ljutkov stated that cultural tourism has an exceptional economic potential for a country, and that North Macedonia strives to nurture cultural and archaeological tourism as well as the contents of national cultural institutions and thus contributes to the economic sustainability of culture.
On the sidelines of the meeting in Skopje, Vujović met with Popens.
The accelerated progress of Montenegro on the road to European integration was noted, as well as the compliance of the cultural policy with EU guidelines in this area.
Vujović emphasized that the focus of cultural policy is currently improving the legislative framework in the field of culture, which will provide a good basis for the implementation of strategic measures and activities that will contribute to the development of the cultural sector in Montenegro.
"The European Union's support for the improvement of the cultural infrastructure in Montenegro through investments within the Interreg IPA pre-accession funds, and the importance of promoting the participation of Montenegrin institutions and organizations in all EU funds was emphasized. The importance of the Creative Europe program was particularly emphasized, as well as the further building of the capacity of the Montenegrin cultural sector to use the available funds to the greatest extent possible and improve competitiveness," the announcement concludes.
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