During the three-day visit to the city of Rijeka, the activity and development of the city were presented to the guests with an emphasis on energy, IT and cultural topics. The introductory presentation was held by Nataša Zrilić, mayor’s senior advisor, who presented to the guests the Development Plan 2021-2027 of the city of Rijeka. Tajana Jukić Neznanović, mayor’s senior advisor, spoke about the sustainable development of the city and mitigating climate change. Capital city projects were also presented to the guests: the art quarter Benčić was presented by Sonja Lukin, senior expert associate for project preparation and implementation from the Department of culture, while the Energana project (Power plant) – Start-up incubator for creative technologies and the IT industry was presented by Neda Suvajac, adviser for project implementation and legal affairs from the Department of entrepreneurship. After the presentations, joint visits to the Sugar Refinery Palace and the Torpedo Production Park were organised.

On Friday, 25 November, the guests from Japan visited Lurssen Design Center Kvarner where they were received by Teuta Duletić, executive director of LDC Kvarner and by Sergej Pintar, product development manager at the Maritime Center of Excellence. Among other things, the work of LDC Kvarner and its development and economic potential for Rijeka and the entire region were presented to the guests. At this meeting Anđelko Petrinić, director of ACI-GITONE, also took part, presenting the development of the project relating to the future ACI marina Rijeka in Porto Baroš with an emphasis on the sustainable and green components of the project.

Within the meeting, the delegation visited the area of the future marina Porto Baroš, which will change the panorama of Rijeka and will raise the standard of the tourist offer in the city, as well as its citizens’ standard of living.

Briefly about the programme:

IURC Asia and Australasia (International Urban and Regional Cooperation) is a European Union programme that promotes cooperation in the field of sustainable urban development and building partnerships between EU cities and cities in the Asian and Australasia region.

About ten cities from the Asian and Australasia region and the EU promote practical cooperation in relevant areas to improve sustainable urban development, including recovery after COVID-19, smart city development, mobility improvement, energy transition, circular economy, urban industries, culture, education and tourism. IURC Asia and Australasia is based on the “Quadruple-Helix” cooperation model, which encourages the public sector to cooperate with private actors, research and educational institutions, and civil society partners in order to develop pilot projects in a short term.

Croatian cities, Zagreb and Rijeka, were chosen for cooperation with the Japanese city of Kawasaki.

Bilateral meetings between the cities enabled the exchange of experiences, challenges and best practices in the field of sustainable development, as well as the identification and nomination of potential pilot actions for further cooperation. As part of the project, mutual study visits are planned within which the project partners will exchange experiences about common challenges, however from significantly different perspectives.