Delegations

During Culture Capital Year, 100 or so delegations from roughly 30 different countries paid Linz a visit and were attended to personally by Linz09 staff. Most of them came from future Culture Capitals or from hopefuls who were contemplating applying for nomination. They came to Linz for a first-hand impression and to learn from Linz09’s experiences, which speaks to Linz09’s position as a role model and to its success.

The countries that sent diplomatic representatives to Linz included Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, the Emirate Sharjah, Estonia, Finland, France, Israel, Japan, Poland, Portugal, Hungary and Turkey. Here meetings with representatives of the City of Linz and of Upper Austria were scheduled, with the Commercial and Artistic Directors and with the team of Linz09. For each delegation a cultural programme was put together that normally also included a guided tour of the city.

The list of guests of honour is long and includes Federal President Heinz Fischer, the Speaker of Austria’s Parliament, Barbara Prammer, the Federal Minister of Education, Arts and Culture Claudia Schmied, EU Commissioner Ján Figel', EU Commissioner Danuta Hübner, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Minister of Culture Sevda Y. Mamedaliyeva, the Mayor of Tel Aviv Ron Huldai, UN Special Advisor on Sports Willi Lemke, Swiss Federal Councillor Pascal Couchepin and Luxembourg’s Minister of Justice François Biltgen.

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