"The City of Rijeka has been included in the activities of the network Les Rencontres since its establishment, therefore, it gives us great pleasure that, as a long-standing active member, we were given the opportunity to play the host to the meeting of the network Les Rencontres, which after many European cities, has taken place for the first time in Rijeka and for the second time in Croatia", said mayor Vojko Obersnel on the occasion of the opening, pointing out the importance of the meeting for two reasons, first of all, due to its exceptionally important and present topic, and also, because of the fact that it invites exactly the representatives of local self-government to discuss it.
"At present culture has ceased to be the goal of travelling, because today tourism is culture" emphasised the mayor adding that what is new are the issues that we are facing within sustainable development and fast changing globalised world.
Over the last decades, the City of Rijeka underwent transformation from an industrial to a post-transition city. It sees its future precisely in the development of those industries that primarily rely on knowledge, creativity and culture. The development of cultural and creative urban tourism forms one of the key components of that development.
In addition to the very prominent topic, in the opinion of the mayor the importance of this meeting reflects on the fact that, just like other meetings of the network Les Rencontres, it primarily turns to the representatives of local administrations, and it can help in resolving a number of difficulties and challenges, and a key to this is in networking and interaction. In the final phase, it is exactly culture and through it tourism, that make this city recognisable, more competitive and more attractive for citizens to live in, for businessmen to operate and for new tourists to sojourn there.
After the mayor, on behalf of the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Croatia the participants were welcomed by Nina Obuljen, state secretary and by Roger Tropéano, president of the network Les Rencontres. In the tradition of Les Rencontres, for meeting participants a rich accompanying programme was organised, visits to exhibitions, a film evening and a dance show, as well as visits to the sights of Rijeka and Opatija.
Established by and for the needs of the representatives of the government and administrations in local self administration units responsible for culture and education in European countries, the network Les Rencontres operates as a platform for co-operation, discussion and action in the field of the cultural policy in European cities, counties and regions. The network supports all cultural activities with the aim of building the culture of united Europe and active European citizenship, closely co-operating with professionals, universities, cultural networks and artists. The network Les Rencontres gathers more than 160 local self-government units from across Europe.
As a long standing member of the Les Rencontres network (since 1999), the City of Rijeka has been actively included in the creation the White Paper on the cultural policies relating to local self government units in Europe.