Covenant of Mayors East (CoM East) is funded by the European Union with the aim of representing the EU’s climate and energy initiative in the Eastern Partnership countries. CoM East supports local authorities in implementing sustainable energy policies, improving energy supply security, and contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts.
One of the project activities under CoM East is the City2City exchange program, which includes visits by mayors/deputy mayors from Eastern Partnership countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, and Ukraine) to one or more cities in Europe.
At the request of the European Commission, the program was adjusted to specifically focus on Ukraine, proposing that the study visit take place in cities across the Balkans.
Given the post-war experience in this region and the reconstruction that followed, a visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina is considered highly valuable for Ukrainian cities that will face similar challenges in the future.

Therefore, the selected cities for the visit were Sarajevo and Mostar, with the goal of sharing experiences related to post-war urban recovery and learning from good practices.

A group of 10–15 representatives from Ukrainian cities has been selected for whom the study visit is most relevant – namely, representatives from cities that have been destroyed and/or are actively implementing urban development projects.