CITY OF BRATISLAVA INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS City of Bratislava International Relations Department Primacialne namestie 1 814 99 Bratislava E-mail:
[email protected] CONTENTS In the Europe of Cities and Regions 3 Introduction 4 Overview of Bratislava’s International Relations 5 Bilateral Cooperation 6 Bratislava – Vienna Strategic Partnership 6 Relations with the Capitals of Central Europe 10 Prague Budapest Warsaw Other Bilateral Relations with Selected Metropolises 12 Ljubljana Dublin Brno Riga, Tallinn, Vilnius Other Partners Export of Know How 15 Multilateral Cooperation 17 Bratislava in EU Structures 17 Cross-Border Cooperation 18 EU Cross-Border Cooperation Programme CENTROPE International Organisations and Initiatives 22 General International Organisations and Initiatives 22 Specialised International Organisations and Initiatives 23 International projects 23 Foreign Marketing 25 City Brand 25 Foreign Marketing Focus 28 Formal Receptions 31 Conclusion 34 IN THE EUROPE OF CITIES AND REGIONS Bratislava continues to be one of the youngest capitals of Europe. At the same time, however, it draws on a rich and famous tradition reaching back as many as two thousand years. Due to this as well, Bratislava has nearly the same historical foundation as several other major cities of Europe. Today, it is a CITY OF BRATISLAVA : INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS : INTERNATIONAL CITY OF BRATISLAVA member of a mature family of 27 metropolises of the new, expanded Europe and, jointly with its neig- hbours, contributes to creating a metropolitan Euroregion which has all the prerequisites to become one of the most dynamic areas of European cooperation and development within the next 15 to 20 years. It would be diffi cult to fi nd another similar place in Europe whose history has involved so frequent changes of political, ethnic, social, as well as urban design system, as has that of Bratislava.