Adviser to the mayor Radoslav Ostojić, represented the City of Bijeljina at the B40 Balkan Cities Network Summit, organised in Athens on 23rd and 24th January. The host was Kostas Bakoyannis, Mayor of the Greek capital, which took over the management of the Network from Istanbul.
 
“Bijeljina has been a member of the B40 Network since its establishment in 2021, because we believe that the so called local community diplomacy can do a lot on overcoming borders and all the drawbacks they have for normal flow of people and exchange of goods, culture and ideas. Also, we are focused on the inter-municipal learning and exchange of experience and accomplishments in municipal development, environmental protection, attraction of investments and other topics important for the everyday life of citizens, which is exactly one of the B40 network goals,” said Ostojić as an explanation of the reasons for Bijeljina to be a member of this international organisation.
 
In addition to the plenary sessions, the Athens Summit was an opportunity for numerous bilateral meetings during which possibilities for establishing and expanding cooperation were discussed.
“Of course, the most opportunities for cooperation exist with cities in the region. Among others, we talked to our friends from Nikšić, Skopje, Kotor, Romanian Constanța, hosts from Athens, as well as the vice president of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe, Vladimir Prebilič. There is a lot of space for the application of the smart-city concepts and solutions in our cities and each city can offer something others do not have. We established important contacts and agreed to concretise them in the following period, so at the end we achieve better quality of life of our citizens,” concluded Ostojić.