Polish Presidency of the Visegrad Group

For 30 years now, the Visegrad Group (V4) has enabled close cooperation between four countries of Central Europe: Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary and Poland which share not only the neighbourhood and similar geopolitical conditions but, most of all, common history, tradition, culture and values. The Group was established on 15 February 1991 (and existed as the Visegrad Triangle until 1993) to enable its member countries to support each other in their efforts to join the European Union and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

 

Today, Visegrad cooperation focuses on internal affairs of the region, but takes place also within the EU and other international organisations. Among others, it has helped to establish the V4 Battlegroup, the Visegrad Patent Institute and the V4 Ministers of Culture Award.

 

The Visegrad Group is also a platform for the societies of the V4 countries to exchange experience. In order to strengthen their mutual contacts, the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) was established. For more than 20 years now, the IVF has supported joint projects, scholarship programmes as well as artistic and literary programmes.

 

The current mode of cooperation within the V4 involves rotating annual presidencies. Until 30 June 2021, the V4 presidency will be held by Poland, and Hungary will take over starting from 1 July 2021.

 

In order to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the V4, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland together with the Polish Association of Applied Graphic Designers organised a poster competition dedicated to the 30th anniversary of the V4 cooperation. It invited entries from the citizens of the V4 countries: Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary. The competition, inspired by the world-famous Polish school of poster design, unleashed creativity among artists inspired by the common history, intercultural dialogue and values of the V4 countries which have been pursued in mutual solidarity.

 

The international jury selected a total of 12 posters which perfectly represent the multiannual cooperation between the Visegrad Group countries. The three winning posters and nine others, which received honourable mentions, were designed by graphic artists from the V4 countries, aiming to provide a visual interpretation of the common values of V4 members.

 

The exhibition is open for visitors until 30 June (free entry). The opening hours of the Library are available here:

https://www.biblored.gov.co/bibliotecas/biblioteca-julio-mario