President of the municipality at the Summit of Local Authorities of Europe and Asia in Sarajevo

The Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo was the host of the Summit of Local Governments of Europe and Asia, which gathered around 150 mayors and chiefs from 15 countries in Europe and Asia, members of the Union of Municipalities TDBB (Union of States of the Turkic World), which is being organized for the first time in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The summit was attended by mayors and chiefs from the Republic of Turkey, Azerbaijan, Kyrgyzstan, Northern Cyprus, Macedonia, Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary, BiH, Albania and Kosovo.

In addition to the heads and mayors of European and Asian countries, the ambassador of the Republic of Turkey in BiH, Cihad Erginay, then representatives of TIKA, the Yunus Emre Turkish Cultural Center in Sarajevo, the vice-president of the Federation of BiH, Melika Mahmutbegović, representatives of Sarajevo Canton, the heads of 15 municipalities from BiH and their associates, representatives of the Municipal Council and councilors of the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo, and other guests.

The Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo is one of the 17 members of TDBB from Bosnia and Herzegovina. Cooperation started more than two years ago, and in September of last year Mayor Semir Efendić was elected as one of the co-presidents and a member of the Union's Board of Directors. The goal of the Union is to strengthen cooperation and exchange experiences between local communities.

This is probably the biggest meeting of local authorities in BiH that has been held in the last ten years. I think we have more than a hundred chiefs and mayors from the countries of the Balkans and Asia. Today is an opportunity to present the activities of the association of cities of the TDBB Union, based in Turkey, which has around 1,200 members. It will also be an opportunity to present what the association has done so far and to give the opportunity to non-member municipalities to join the organization. This is an opportunity for cooperation between municipalities, bilateral meetings will be held, I am confident that concrete cooperation will result from this. I can say that municipalities from BiH, members of TDBB, have so far, establishing fraternal relations with the Union, realized projects worth several tens million KM. Today is an opportunity to present all these activities", said Mayor Efendić.

TDBB President Ibrahim Karaosmanoglu said that he believes that the work during today's summit and bilateral meetings will be fruitful and result in quality results and new acquaintances. "We are attending this meeting today as a union of municipalities and we aim to exchange experiences from the domain of local authorities. This is a good opportunity to meet and make acquaintances with other municipalities from this position, which we consider fraternal," said Karaosmanoglu.

In his address, Karaosmanoglu pointed out that the world is changing rapidly globally, but that life in communities is changing the slowest, and that is why it is important to invest in better living conditions in them. He also pointed out that it is noticeable that many of our cities are aging, and that it is very important to invest in their renewal.

The summit was also attended by the deputy mayor of Ohrid, Angel Janev, who said that the local community of Ohrid has about 20 sister cities and more than 20 cities that have signed a cooperation agreement, stressing that such a meeting should be organized by all cities.

Merdi Semizade, director of the Agency for Local Self-Government at the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Azerbaijan, expressed his satisfaction with the attendance at the summit held in the Municipality of Novi Grad Sarajevo. "We wanted to support our friendly people with our presence," Semizade said.

TDBB General Secretary Fahri Solak pointed out that representatives of Turkish municipalities have been staying in BiH for three days already. In those days, in addition to the meeting of the Steering Committee of the Union, representatives of Turkish local communities attended the religious event of Ajvatovice in Prusac, and visited several other cultural and touristic places in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In the past two days, the guests were hosted by the mayors of the municipalities of Konjic, Travnik and Fojnica, whose municipalities are members of the Organization.

TDBB was founded in 2003 and operates with 28 member countries with more than 1,100 municipalities. BiH, as Solak pointed out, is the country where TDBB is most active.

At the summit, the project of rebuilding the bridge on the Spreča River between the two members of TDBB, the City of Doboj and Doboj Istok, was presented, as well as the projects that Goražde was building with eight sister municipalities from Turkey (Cultural Center and Park in Goražde), and in addition it was presented and the restoration project of the Mustafa bey Sokolović bridge, the oldest stone bridge built in the Ottoman period in Bosnia and Herzegovina (20 years before the Višegrad bridge).

The sister municipality of Sancaktepe invested more than 600,000 euros in the construction of a sports hall in Gornji Vakuf, and also, one of the member municipalities of the Organization, Beykoz-Istanbul Municipality, is preparing the construction of a sports hall in Srebernica.