XV Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue
on the Phoenicians’ Route,
2022 International General Assembly
A Route, but not just a Route
Poreč (Croatia), October 20-22, 2022
Poreč hosted the XV Euro-Mediterranean Dialogue on the Phoenicians’ Route – 2022 International General Assembly on October 20th-21st, 2022.
It is the most important annual event of the Phoenicians’ Route, one of the historic Cultural Routes, among the 48 recognized to date by the Council of Europe (certified in 2003).
The event was hosted by the Municipality of Poreč, member of the Route since 2020, with the patronage of the EUSAIR Facility Point, the Ministry of Culture and Media and the Ministry of Tourism and Sport of Croatia, the Istria Tourism Board, the Tourism Board of the City of Poreč. The programme put together numerous activities, workshops, capacity building sessions in collaboration with international stakeholders, and exchanges of best practices.
On the morning of October 20th, the meeting of the International Scientific Committee was held at the Council Chamber of the Municipality of Poreč to evaluate and approve the new candidacies.
In the afternoon, the inauguration of the exhibition on the Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe operating in Croatia was held at the Open University, kindly granted by the Ministry of Culture and Media, in the presence of Elio Štifanić, Deputy Mayor of Poreč, Elena Tanou, President of the Phoenicians’ Route – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, Antonio Barone, Director of the Phoenicians’ Route – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe, Ksenija Keča, Member of the Scientific Committee of the Phoenicians’ Route, President of MultiCulTour Association, Croatia, and Senior Lecturer at Libertas International University Zagreb, Erasmus Coordinator and Head of International Affairs Office, and Irina Belusic Maggì, Vice President of ATRIUM – Architecture of Totalitarian Regimes of the 20th Century in Europe’s Urban Memory – Cultural Route of the Council of Europe.
On the morning of October 21st, at the Diet Hall in Poreč, the 2022 General Assembly of the Phoenicians’ Route was held, an important moment of reflection and sharing of strategies.
The event was attended by over 50 members from 12 countries among those currently members of the International Confederation, with the presence of Dr. Tatjana Horvatić, Representative of Croatia to the Enlarged Partial Agreement on Cultural Routes of the Council of Europe (EPA) and Head of Movable, Ethnographic and Intangible Cultural Heritage Office at the Ministry of Culture and Media of Croatia.
The event was also an opportunity to present the activities of the 20th Anniversary of the Phoenicians’ Route, which will be celebrated in 2023.
In addition, three thematic workshops and Capacity building sessions were held in the afternoon for partners, members, stakeholders, cultural routes, public administrators and private operators on the specific methodologies of the Phoenicians’ Route (Smart Ways and Interpretation Centres, Governance and International Projects).
Finally, on the evening of October 21st, the Phoenicians’ Route – Iter Vitis 2022 awards were assigned. It is an international award, divided into different categories, created to recognise and thereby support innovative initiatives that value cultural heritage and wine culture, and the promotion of responsible tourism that is creative, experiential and sustainable in country members of the two international routes (from Azerbaijan to Portugal). The Manager Dubravka Davidović represented the Iter Vitis Cultural Route.
During the Assembly, the candidacy of the Mont’e Prama Foundation of Cabras – Sardinia (Italy) to host the next International General Assembly in 2023 was also unanimously approved.
