In mid-August 2022, Assistant to the President of CIRSD and Horizons Junior Editor, Aleksandar Ljubomirović attended the prestigious annual European Forum in the Austrian village Alpbach, Europe’s most prestigious, high-level and invitation-only event. Aleksandar was one of the around 600 scholarship holders of overall 3,800 participants from more than 100 countries, and had the opportunity to spend two weeks in Alpbach, not only developing new abilities during the Alpbach seminars, but also confronting decision-makers, scientists, politicians and artists with their questions and solution proposals.
The New Europe was the theme of this year’s European Forum Alpbach (EFA), which once again was held at the Congress Centrum and at many other venues in the Tyrolean mountain village of Alpbach. The event centred on Europe’s future and on how to address the challenges of our time. Overall, the European Forum Alpbach (EFA) is a platform that drives ideas for an empowered and democratic Europe. It brings together the next generation of leaders in Europe with the most innovative minds, decision-makers and experts from politics, business, sciences, culture and civil society to work together from all over the world to engage and contribute to its mission.
The 2022 European Forum in Alpbach took place over a 14-day period and featured keynote discussions with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, Swiss Chancellor Walter Thurnherr, High Representative and Vice-President of the European Commission Josep Borrell Fontelles, Professor at Columbia University Joseph E. Stiglitz, Co-Chair of the European Council on Foreign Relations Carl Bildt, and Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at the Columbia University Jeffrey D. Sachs, amongst many others.
CIRSD representative, Aleksandar Ljubomirović, was one of the few scholarship holders from the Republic of Serbia and as such has attended numerous seminars and panel discussions on topics such as geopolitics, international relations, economy, sustainable development, digitalisation and many more. Furthermore, Aleksandar met with future leaders and high-ranking officials from several European and African countries contributing to the bilateral relations of Serbia with nations such as Germany, Poland, Croatia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, Nigeria.
