Workshop of the Territorial governance in Serbia held
On 26 November - Belgrade, Institute for Territorial Economic Development (InTER) in cooperation with NALED organised a Workshop of the Territorial governance in Serbia on territorial governance in Serbia, together with the partners from the Western Balkans Network on Territorial Governance (TG-WeB). The event was opened by Dragisa Mijačić, Director of the Institute for Territorial Economic Development and Dritan Shutina, Director of Co-PLAN. Nikola Žeželj, Director of the Development Agency of Vojvodina, Siniša Trkulja, Spatial Planner at the Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure, and Gerhard Sippel, Director of the GIZ Office in Serbia participated in the panel discussion on Regional Development in Serbia. Yngve Engstroem, Head of Cooperation for the EU Delegation, Vladan Vasić, Mayor of Pirot, Samir Kačapor, Regional Development Agency Sandžak and Marko Blagojević, Director of the Government Office for Public Investments, discussed the EU funds and territorial development.
Participants of the Regional Development Panel pointed out that regional differences remained at the same level as 2009, without establishing a proper strategic and legal framework, and awareness of the importance of regional development remains underdeveloped.
The second panel discussed EU funds in the context of territorial governance and development. Panelists agree that progress has been made in capacity building for project management and public investment at the local level, but they stressed that there is still a need to improve financial and personnel capacities in local government units. Implementation of major infrastructure projects from EU funds implies the separation of significant funds for co-financing projects, the time required for the development of project-technical documentation and the resolution of property-legal relations, as well as the technical capacity for project management. Experience shows that the best effect on socio-economic development gives an integrated territorial approach and directing funding sources to a comprehensive set of measures that together lead to the improvement of economic activity and living standards and recommended additional work on improving inter-municipal cooperation on regional projects.
The event brought together representatives of state institutions, international organizations, regional development agencies, non-governmental organizations and the professional public from Serbia and the region.