Milan Bandić, Zagreb mayor, and Sergey Cheremin, Minister of the Moscow City Government, signed a programme regulating the cooperation between Zagreb and Moscow yesterday, on March 20 2017.
The programme regulates the 2017-2019 period and covers the areas of development, urban planning, ecology, transport, culture and sports.
“We’ve agreed to strengthen our cooperation and to hold Moscow Days manifestation in Zagreb next year. We expect more events in the areas of sports, culture and tourism cooperation.” Cheremin said after the programme was signed.
Mayor Bandić recalled that the first cooperation between the two cities was agreed upon in 2001 and that significant progress has been made, especially when it comes to culture. He said that additional efforts need to be made in the areas of tourism, culture, infrastructure and ecology. Mr. Bandić also stated that a bust of Juraj Križanić, Croatian theologian, writer, musician and politician, and a park bearing his name will be unveiled in Moscow in autumn. He also mentioned the possibility of a friendly match between Dinamo Zagreb and Dinamo Moscow.
Moscow delegation visited the Končar factory to see if the Croatian company can apply for a tram procurement tender in Moscow, and Zagreb mayor announced a tender for 60 new low-floor trams in Zagreb.
Later during the day Mayor Bandić and Minister Cheremin unveiled a monument to Sergei Yesenin, one of the greatest Russian poets, at Zagreb’s Bundek Park. The monument bears a sign that says “A gift from Russia to the friendly people of Croatia.”
There are five monuments to notable Russians in total in Croatia: Leo Tolstoy’s bust (from 1914) and Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s bust (from 2015) on the island of Brač, Anton Pavlovich Chekhov’s bust in Opatija (from 2013), and Alexander Pushkin and Yuri Gagarin’s busts in Zagreb (from 2016).
