The event “Open Days – European Week of Regions and Cities” has been taking place since 2003 in Brussels under auspices of the Committee of the Regions. Its goal is to promote relevance of regions and cities in the context of creating and implementing European development policies. The event lasts for four days, in the form of over 100 workshops, conferences and meetings, at which over 6000 representatives of regions and cities from all over Europe exchange experience and opinions about various strategic issues, development programs and projects.

This year’s event took place from 6 to 9 October, under the slogan “Growing together – Smart investment for people“, with three main themes: connecting regional strategies, capacity building and territorial cooperation. Especially important was presentation of new programmes and financing instruments, part of which will be available for Serbia.

Regional Economic Development Agency for Sumadija and Pomoravlje has been supporting local governments to attend Open Days for several years. The practice has shown that a visit to this event is an excellent opportunity for networking with potential partners and informing about contemporary development directions and ideas. It should be emphasized that it is an excellent opportunity to organize bilateral meetings with representatives of regions and cities in Brussels and to attend various conferences and presentations.

This year, the delegation of Sumadija and Pomoravlje consisted of representatives of four local self-governments (Kragujevac,Batočna,Lapovo,Paraćin) and REDASP.

The stay in Brussels was organized as a combination of bilateral meetings with representatives of the regions Emilia-Romagna - Italy, Istria – Croatia and AP  Vojvodina – Serbia, and participation at a number of workshops, receptions and meetings that were good opportunity to make many new contacts.