Some time ago, ASB SEE team had decided that, against all odds, despite all the current reasons in the world why one should not throw a party now, we will celebrate a good cause. We’d decided to use the voice and credibility given by more than century of experience to raise awareness on the important questions that often stay in the shadow of the headline events.
Two weeks ago we’d invited our friends and colleagues to Sarajevo to celebrate 𝟭𝟬𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗲𝘅𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗶𝗴𝗻 𝗔𝗶𝗱 𝗗𝗲𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝟯𝟬 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗔𝗦𝗕’𝘀 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸 𝗶𝗻 𝗪𝗲𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗕𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗮𝗻. But we didn’t just throw a party. We’d organized a conference and two panel discussions on social dimension of regional cooperation and public-civil partnership at the local level, cooperation for joint action and fundraising.
We’d used our influence to gather experts and decision makers from South East Europe and international organizations. 𝗠𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗱𝗲𝗽𝘂𝘁𝘆 𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗲𝗿𝘀, 𝟯𝟬 𝗺𝗮𝘆𝗼𝗿𝘀, 𝗿𝗲𝗽𝗿𝗲𝘀𝗲𝗻𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻 𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗮𝘀𝘀𝘆, 𝗨𝗡𝗗𝗣, 𝗨𝗡𝗙𝗣𝗔, 𝗦𝗗𝗖, 𝗔𝗦𝗕 𝗚𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗺𝗮𝗻𝘆 𝗼𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝘀 𝗵𝗮𝗱 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗶𝗿 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗻 𝗿𝗲𝗴𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗮𝗹 𝗪𝗕 𝗰𝗼𝗼𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀, 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗻𝗲𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗿𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵 𝗷𝗼𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗹𝘆 𝗳𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗷𝗲𝗰𝘁𝘀, 𝘄𝗮𝘆𝘀 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗳𝗹𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗘𝗨 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗴𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗰𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗼𝗿𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗼 𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗹𝘂𝗱𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗱𝗶𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗹 𝗶𝗺𝗽𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝘁𝗼 𝗲𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘆 𝗱𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝗼𝗽 𝘀𝗼𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿.
The overall conclusion was that the Declaration on Social Dimensions signed by all WB line ministers in Belgrade in 2018 (the idea initiated by ASB) needs to be put in action on all levels.
Success should be celebrated, good ideas and achievements too. We are happy our friends and colleagues had supported our idea and we had achieved to shed a light on it together. We are grateful for the trust and support we’d received in past decades and looking forward to many more.
