Blanar to Speak at Celebrations Marking 26th Anniversary of Visegrad Fund

Bratislava, 16 June (TASR) - Foreign and European Affairs Minister Juraj Blanar (Smer-SD) is scheduled to speak at a ceremony marking the 26th anniversary of the founding of the International Visegrad Fund at the Arena Theatre in Bratislava at 5 p.m. on Tuesday, TASR has been told by the Foreign Ministry. For the first time, the programme will include the presentation of the Visegrad Literary Prize, awarded to authors of exceptional literary works from the Visegrad Four (V4) countries (the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia). The programme will also feature artistic readings from the award-winning books in the authors' original languages. During the event, the winner of the 'Project of the Year' award will also be announced. This award annually highlights successful initiatives supporting regional cooperation in the V4 countries. The International Visegrad Fund, based in Bratislava, was set up in 2000 by the governments of Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland with the aim of promoting regional cooperation, civil society, culture, education, science and research, as well as people-to-people contacts in Central Europe. am/df