The agreement, in force from 2006 to the end of 2008, outlines several specific areas for cooperation and even names some events, such as a concert to be given by the Hungarian Radio Orchestra in Ljubljana to mark the sixtieth anniversary of Béla Bartók?s death. It also mandates the establishment of a joint Slovenian-Hungarian heritage protection committee "with a special focus on the Lendava castle," Bozóki said. The castle is in a region in Slovenia in which many ethnic Hungarians live, near the border with Hungary.
Cross-border cooperation and preserving the cultures of ethnic minorities are similarly important objectives, Bozóki said.
Slovenia will be taking the EU presidency in 2008, and there are plans to hold Slovenian culture weeks in Hungary that year, Bozóki said. Other cultural events such as exhibitions, cultural exchange programs, and study trips will also be organized as part of the programme.
Slovenia showed strong interest in the ?European Capital of Culture? program, in which Hungary will participate in 2010, Bozóki said. The programme allows one new member state and one old one each year to chose a city for the title ?European Capital of Culture?. Hungary picked Pécs, in the southwest of the country, for the title. Slovenia will get a chance to pick one of its cities in 2010.
The agreement also set the framework for cooperation between a number of educational and cultural institutions, and between different ethnic minorities in the region.
