At the sitting on 10 February, the Culture and Information Committee held a public hearing on “Cultural cooperation in international relations”. The sitting was chaired by Vesna Marjanovic, Committee Chairperson.

On the occasion of the 70^th anniversary of the British Council Office in Serbia, the participants were addressed by the British Council’s Regional Director for South East Europe Michael Bird who said that the British Council was founded as an independent and non-political organisation primarily aimed at building trust through exchange of experiences. Trust can only be built on dialogue, the principle of reciprocity, because, according to him, “our future depends on people who belong to all cultures and we all depend on one another”. The British Council was founded 75 years ago and is active in 110 countries, with the Serbian branch being one of the eighth oldest ones.

Michael Bird stressed that common issues and challenges, such as inter-cultural dialogue, climatic change, environmental protection and other should be resolved in a European way so that everyone can act together in Europe, as well as globally.

The Committee members stressed the British Council’s key role in organising various projects in the spheres of culture and education. They pointed out that foreign cultural centres in Serbia contribute extensively to the organisation of cultural programmes and share their knowledge and experience, as well as lend support to the presentation of Serbian culture in the world.

Stating that Serbia has only one cultural centre abroad, in Paris, the Committee members emphasised the need to improve the work of cultural institutions, for which the experience of European countries is invaluable, and above all to organise the presentation of Serbian culture abroad. Serbian culture should be presented abroad in a much more organised and contemporary way because cultural cooperation is a two-directional exchange of knowledge and experience, it was estimated.

The Committee members stressed that cooperation with other foreign cultural centres in Serbia should be continued, as their knowledge, information and experience can help further Serbian culture abroad.

The members of the Foreign Affairs Committee and European Integrations Committee took part in the sitting which was also attended by the representatives of the Foreign Ministry and Ministry of Culture, as well as expert associates.