Ljubljana and Belgrade sign twinning accord.

At Ljubljana City Hall on Wednesday 24 November 2010 the Mayor of Belgrade Dragan Đilas and the Mayor of Ljubljana Zoran Janković signed an accord on twinning the two capitals. On this occasion, the Mayor of Ljubljana gave his Belgrade colleague a letter to support the candidacy of Belgrade as the European Capital of Culture 2020, as both cities are successfully co-operating in the field of culture.

The Mayors expressed the view that the agreement will further improve the already good co-operation between the capitals. They emphasized that it means a particularly high expectation of co-operation in the fields of economy, culture, sport and organisation of city public services for both cities. The agreement is seen as an upgrade of current co-operation between the capitals, which will allow further and faster exchange of experience and best practices. The Mayor of Ljubljana said that the strengthening of co-operation between Ljubljana and Belgrade will contribute to even greater co-operation between the two countries, and meanwhile expressed support for Serbia and Belgrade on their European path; Djilas thanked him for Slovenia and Ljubljana’s support so far of Serbian convergence with the EU.

The Mayor of Belgrade said that the foundations of co-operation between the cities had been put in place years ago by the people without the presence of politicians. As an example of good commercial co-operation on both sides he mentioned the part played by Slovenian companies in the building of a bridge over the Sava, the largest Belgrade and general Serbian infrastructure investment.

Mayor Zoran Janković pointed out that signing the twinning agreement is understood to be a great honour for Ljubljana, as Belgrade had previously only signed such an agreement with Chicago.

Belgrade Mayor Dragan Đilas and his delegation were then taken on a walk around Ljubljana led by Prof. Koželj and Head of the City of Ljubljana's Department of Culture Dr. Grilc and visited the Trubar House. With Mayor Janković, he then visited the Speaker of the Slovenian National Assembly Dr. Pavel Gantar and a photographic exhibition in Tivoli Park by Jim Sumkay entitled "Ljubigrade, Belana: love Belgrade, white Ljubljana".