Museum network to boost relations

SARAJEVO - Hürriyet Daily News

The South East European Museums Network, which will enhance cross-border cooperation between cultural institutions, was established at a ministerial conference held in Skopje on Nov. 13.

Culture ministry officials from Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Moldova, Rumania and Serbia created the network to foster cooperation among national museums in Southeast Europe (SEE) and to develop projects at regional and international levels.

The conference also hosted directors of national museums as well as representatives from the European Commission, the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Task Force on Culture and Society, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the International Council of Museums (ICOM).

Opening the event, the Minister of Culture of the Republic of Macedonia, Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska, said the event clearly highlighted affirmation and respect for different cultural expressions in all forms, management of cultural heritage, and strengthening of cultural tourism.

“We are actively concentrating our efforts on the promotion of a principle of understanding and good neighborly relations between SEE countries along with the networking of their institutions and entities in regional projects in different areas.”

The General Director for Cultural Heritage and Museums and Turkey’s representative at the conference, Osman Murat Süslü, said that Turkey deems its 600-year-old common cultural heritage in this geography very important. “This cultural heritage also has universal values. It is the mission of people who represent Turkey to preserve this heritage for future generations,” Süslü said, according to Anatolia news agency.

Cooperation in the field of cultural heritage in Southeast Europe has been placed high on the agenda of the RCC Strategy and Work Program for 2011-2013 and the organization will continue assisting relevant national institutions, among which museums play a special role, in developing closer links and concrete forms of regional cooperation.