Polish Presidency of the Visegrad Group

Mr. Piotr Gliński emphasised in his speech the importance of cultural cooperation as the Visegrad Group, referred to the meetings of the Ministers for Culture from V4 and the Visegrad Award granted this year to the National Centre for Culture. Director Rafał Wiśniewski emphasised the importance of murals in public space and named the four Visegrad murals the new street art gallery.

Mr. Szymon Szynkowski vel Sęk recalled the origin of the Visegrad Group, highlighting the importance of the 30^th anniversary of the Group, celebrated this February. He also presented the most important initiatives and successes of Poland’s presidency of the V4. The Secretary of State restated the very substantial and ambitious anniversary declaration which Heads of Governments of the V4 had adopted this February, as it not only recaps the successes achieved over the 30-year period, but also sets new major areas for future cooperation. “The Visegrad Group stands for numerous projects, political but also social ones. For over 20 years now, the Visegrad Fund has been used to support many projects. The mural, unveiled in Warsaw, is also an element of the dialogue with the society” explained the Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs.

In his speech, the Secretary of State also announced the events which are to take place next week to mark the end of Poland’s presidency of the Visegrad Group – a summit of prime ministers of the V4, which will take place in Katowice on 30 June after the meeting of the heads of diplomacy of the V4, Western Balkans and Croatia in Poznań and Rogalin on 29 June. He underlined the social importance of the cooperation between the citizens of V4 countries and increasing the awareness of the Group’s operations, which was carried out by Polish diplomatic posts all over the world, throughout Poland’s presidency of the V4, which is exemplified by the Visegrad mural project in four capitals of the Group.

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The mural was created by Magda Miszczak in collaboration with the National Centre for Culture and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with the support of the Ministry of Culture, National Heritage and Sport, and the participation of the Polish Institutes in Bratislava, Budapest and Prague. The Warsaw mural was unveiled as the first one out of four located in V4 capitals; the other ones will be unveiled on 29 June in Bratislava and 30 June in Budapest, whereas the Prague mural will be unveiled in late July.

 

MFA Press Office

Photo: Sebastian Indra/MFA