ЕU funds arriving to West Bačka

Within the KEP Tours, the representatives of the Office for European Affairs of the Executive Council of AP Vojvodina, Igor Bajić and Nenad Đuretić visited Sombor, one of the most successful municipalities which implemented significant projects by means of funds from donors, ranging from the European ones to the ones by the Capital Investment Fund of AP Vojvodina in the past three years. As Igor Bajić emphasised, the visit to Sombor aimed at promoting the European idea and the pre-accession EU funds.
Under the cross-border cooperation programme for which the EU allocated EUR 840,000, Sombor has managed to get somewhat over a third of the funds (EUR 250,000) for CBC projects with the Republic of Hungary, which makes this town one of the most successful and qualified local self-governments in the field of project development and implementation.
“The experience will be valuable to you in the future when new European funds will be opened. Projects in the field of agricultural development and human resources will be financed, and 30% of the EU budget will be allocated for regional development projects. This opportunity is given to us once in a lifetime and it depends on our decisions whether we will become one of the most developed regions in Europe in the near future“, emphasized Igor Bajić.
By means of the funds of the Capital Investment Fund of AP Vojvodina, amounting to nearly RSD 800 million, Sombor started to finalise the reconstruction of the main town street of King Peter I and several more infrastructure works were to be done in the town and villages.
“The funds that the municipality of Sombor withdrew from the Fund are significant and respectable as the initial story for continuing the expansive development of the municipality, by means of which you can start a regional match with other municipalities in the surrounding area, which can be to the benefit of all of us“, said Nenad Đuretić, representative of the Capital Investment Fund of the Executive Council of AP Vojvodina and member of the Council of the Office for European Affairs.
During the meeting at the municipality, the representatives of the KEP Tour emphasized to their hosts, Radislav Jelačić, deputy president of the municipality, and Milan Stepanović, head of the cabinet of the mayor, that the municipality should look out for the calls to apply for funds, especially for cross-border cooperation, because for the first time, funding for projects was planned in the provincial budget for 2008 that would initiate regional cooperation between the whole territory of Bačka and Srem and the Republic of Croatia.
After the meeting with the local government hosts, the KEP Tour visited the Sombor secondary technical school, secondary school of economics and the Faculty of Education, where the construction of a new student dormitory began by means of the funds of the Capital Investment Fund of AP Vojvodina.