Mersiha Smailovic, president of Legis, participated in the founding meeting of the Balkan-Ukrainian Cooperation Network.
The PROI association, in cooperation with the organizations New Geopolitical Research Network and Analytical Center for Balkan Studies, organized the meeting and founding forum of the Balkan-Ukrainian Cooperation Network in Sarajevo on October 4 and 5, 2022.
The regional dialogue of civil society brought together 30 representatives of the non-governmental sector from the countries of the Western Balkans and Ukraine, where the Balkan-Ukrainian cooperation network was established to start concrete cooperation between representatives of civil society organizations of the countries of the Western Balkans and Ukrainian activists and organizations. and implementation of joint activities to solve humanitarian issues, protect democracy, build peace and strengthen Euro-Atlantic processes.
Mersiha Smailovic made a presentation about the situation of Ukrainian refugees in the Republic of North Macedonia and about the legal and humanitarian activities of Legis to improve and facilitate the stay of Ukrainian refugees in the country.
In the role of observers, the session was attended by representatives of the Swiss Embassy, the European Delegation in BiH, the US Embassy in BiH, the Ukrainian Embassy in BiH, the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society and representatives of the National Democratic Institute – NDI, as well as numerous organizations that attended online.
The meeting was attended by representatives of these organizations: PROI, Youth Representative Board (BiH), New Geopolitical Research Network (Ukraine), May 21 Civic Initiative (Montenegro), Legis (North Macedonia), Center for Strategic Analysis ( Serbia), Horizon Civitas (North Macedonia), CLEAR Global (Croatia), EU Policy Center (Albania), Analytical Center for Balkan Studies, Stop Fake, ADASTRA Analytical Center, NUMO Platform for Balkan-Ukraine Cooperation, Society Regional Researchers of History and Culture of Zaporozhye (Ukraine), as well as independent analysts and journalists from the mentioned countries.
This meeting was carried out within the project “Protection of civil space – Regional Hub for the development of civil society” financed by @Sida – Styrelsen för Internationellt Utvecklingssamarbete, and carried out by the Balkan Network of Civil Society Development.
