The Story Behind the Visegrad Fund: 25 Years of Connecting People

The founding of the International Visegrad Fund is a story of vision, trust, and cooperation between the countries of Central Europe. It began in May 1999, when the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, the Prime Minister of Hungary, the Prime Minister of Poland, and the Prime Minister of Slovakia met at the Visegrad Summit in Bratislava. There, they agreed that there was a need to have a joint mechanism that would fund concrete projects enabling regional closeness—among people, cities, universities, and cultural institutions.

Just one year after, on 9 June 2000, V4 leaders signed the Agreement on the Establishment of the International Visegrad Fund in Štiřín, near Prague (Czech Republic). The Fund‘s headquarters were in Bratislava, in the very heart of Central Europe with a common mission from the beginning. The Fund was conceived to promote cooperation between the V4 countries and enhance trust and durable relations among the region‘s citizens.

The Fund was created as a non-political and independent international organization, based on long-term sustainability, professionalism, and openness—both towards the V4 countries, as well as their neighbours, in particular, so called the Eastern Partnership and the Western Balkans countries.

The Visegrad Fund functions on the principles of equal representation and shared responsibilities. Ten executive directors and six deputy directors have led the Fund since its establishment, with each V4 country taking turns in the position.

What was a modest start has evolved into a well-respected international grant institution. Over the past 25 years, the Fund has supported more than 6,700 projects, enabled more than 3,000 scholarships, hosted more than 600 artist residencies, and distributed over €140 million in funds.