site.btaSkopje Hosts Cultural Diplomacy Forum

Skopje is hosting a Cultural Diplomacy Forum on September 4-6. It brings together former Presidents of Bulgaria, Croatia, Serbia, Albania, and Bosnia and Herzegovina and former prime ministers of Moldova and Lebanon. Gjorge Ivanov, President of the Republic of North Macedonia in 2009-2019, is acting as host.

Bulgaria's ex-President Petar Stoyanov (1997-2002) is taking part.

The forum mottoed "Promoting International Cooperation, Cultural Understanding and Peace" is being held in Skopje for the first time. The Office of Former President Gjorge Ivanov co-organized the forum with the Berlin-based Academy of Cultural Diplomacy, the City of Skopje and the International Center Alliance of Civilizations.

The participants include Armin Laschet, Minister President of North Rhine-Westphalia, former Swedish foreign minister Ann Linde, Elmar Brok, chairman of the European Parliament Committee on Foreign Affairs in 2012-2017, MEPs, and MPs from Scotland, Croatia, Romania, Ireland and North Macedonia.

The forum will be attended by North Macedonia's President Stevo Pendarovski and Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska, Skopje Mayor Danela Arsovska and Aleksandar Nikoloski, Chairman of the National European Integration Council at North Macedonia's Assembly and VMRO-DPMNE Deputy Chairman, among others.

The event in Skopje is held as part of the Forum on Democracy and Peace, a five-year project (2022-2027) of the Institute for Cultural Diplomacy, founded in 1999 in the United States. More events this year are to be held in Berlin, New York City and Brussels.