Official visit to Sarajevo within the scope of the European Cities and Regions for Culture (an entity represented in Portugal by the Serra Henriques Foundation) international meeting.

On the 4th of February, the first Like Culture meeting of 2016 took place in the United Nations building in Sarajevo, organized by UNESCO and the French embassy in Bosnia Herzegovina. The event was dominated by the importance of European cultural identity and sustained development in the process of integrating the country into the European Union, whose membership request became official on the 15th of March, 2016.

In order for it to happen correctly, various transformations will be needed and, in the last few months, major steps were taken by some of the European Institutions, but many challenges demand vast reforms and a strong involvement of the Member-States, institutions and Civil Society. In this domain, the Foundation had the opportunity to present its operational guideline and, most of all, the availability to collaborate in academic projects that aim for a greater knowledge of cultural realities and the sharing of good practice in social and urban development.

The visit to Sarajevo ended with a protocol session in the official residency of His Excellency the French ambassador, with whom the Foundation established a strong dialogue of cooperation within these domains.