Via Egnatia Foundation is set up to inspire this old road with new life

The Via Egnatia Foundation aims to promote interest for the region around the Via Egnatia and thus pay a contribution to the development of this region. Officially the goals of the Via Egnatia Foundation (VEF) are stated as: "To stimulate interest in and development of the (region around) the Via Egnatia, in cultural, economical and social respect, by means of publications, research, education, restoration, exhibitions and other means that can further this interest and development."
In short: the VEF is about CONNECTION and EXCHANGE. That is to say exchange of knowledge and cultural goods between the people living along the Via Egnatia, and also between them and western countries. The VEF wants to initiate a process of research, exploration and dialogue along the itinerary of the Via Egnatia and to report about that process. Focus will be on the life along the road, as expressed in commerce, language, religion, art and music. These themes will be explored by means of interviews with local people and by research of various historical sources.The Road is therefore both guideline and symbol of interaction. We hope to initiate an ongoing process of development and cooperation and thereby inspire this old road with new life. There will be meetings and letters, books and documentaries, concerts and exhibitions. There will be reasearch and conferencing. And there will be a lot of travelling along the Via Egnatia, on foot, on horseback, by virtual means and by car.

The Foundation has obtained the enthusiastic cooperation of scholars and experts on the various aspects of social, historical and cultural life in the countries covered by the road (see "Participants").

To be clear: all this Via Egnatia activity is not a commercial enterprise. We are a foundation; there is no personal financial gain for any of the participants. Nor is the purpose of the VEF a touristic one: exchange and development is our first aim. Neither is this a political endeavour; we take no sides: our goal is to achieve transnational cooperation, avoid bilateral clashes and focus on mutual interests instead. The ultimate goal of all the activities of the VEF is to stimulate awareness and validation of the cultural unity as well as the ethno-cultural variety in the region.

The activities of the Via Egnatia Foundation are warmly supported by Mr. Max van der Stoel, former minister of foreign affairs and first commissary on ethnic minorities for the OVSE, special advisor for the EU on communal safety-policy, and by Mr. Roland Bimo, Albanian ambassador in Holland.