Support to Regional Cooperation – Socio-economic Development of the Macedonian Territory through Local Museums

18/09/2006 - The Regional Cooperation Support Programme foresees a two-day visit to Macedonia on Monday September 18th. The aim will be to present a project proposal to the Macedonian partners in order to foster the socio-economic development of the territory by improving local museums. This proposal is incorporated in the guide-lines “Dialogue and Culture” of the inter-regional programme. This comprises four other themes of intervention in the areas of Socio-economic Development, Material and Immaterial Inter-connections, Environment and Sustainable Development and Health and Welfare. The entire initiative which is promoted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, aims to identify and implement projects and agreements  for solid territorial partnerships between the Italian regions and the countries bordering South-Eastern Europe and the South Mediterranean.
The Italian delegation is composed of functionaries from the Calabria region who play a representative role for the Italian system, experts from the sector and Formez professionals in the ambit of technical assistance  They will  meet with national and local interlocutors in Skopje and Tetovo and during the two day mission, the delegates will visit the Ministry of Culture and the Museum of Modern Arts as well as the Academy of Science and the Skopje University.
 The Puglia region will be proposed to the partners as the leader region of the project, while other participants would be Abruzzo, Calabria, Emilia Romagna, Marche, Sicily, Veneto and Umbria regions. The activities to be organized, are the sharing of best practices in the management of the museums with particular attention to micro-climate management, as well as the enhancement of the Italian-Albanian archive-language resources. Another key topic will be the realization of cultural events among which would be an exhibition on the similar features and identities of the Adriatic coast. Managers and professionals from the Balkan museums will have the possibility of visiting Italy for highly-specialized training workshops. The programme also foresees  the implementation of a databank about Italian-Balkan cultural heritage and the improvement of library networks in the Albanian language. Through these activities, the objective is to ensure that the heads of museums and cultural institutions can attain a high level of professionalism, above all in managing the conservation of museums and the micro-climate, as well as increasing the interaction between the network of minor museums, neighbouring territories and schools.