Over a million euros to Vojvodina from the neighbourhood programme with Romania

Novi Sad, 27 March – Within the framework of the first call for proposals of the Romania – Serbia CBC Programme, contracts on project funding, worth a total of €1,867,687, are being signed today at the Federation Palace in Belgrade, in partnership with the Ministry of International Economic Relations and the Executive Council of the Autonomous Province of Vojvodina, through the Office for European Affairs. More than a million euros out of that sum is allocated to Vojvodina. In the following months, funding will be provided for ten projects from Vojvodina and five ones from central Serbia (the territories covered are the districts of North Banat, Central Banat and South Banat in Vojvodina and the districts of Bor and Braničevo in Serbia). Out of 106 submitted projects (48 from Serbia and 58 from Romania), a total of 36 have been administratively accepted, and 15 have been chosen to be financed. Vojvodina will receive over a million euros, to be precise 1,081,293, through ten financed projects. “Over the past months, we have been visiting the municipalities of Vojvodina, within the seminar on the EU named ‘A Step Forward’, and citizens have mostly been interested in CBC programmes. When viewed separately, these projects are not of great value, however, they make an impact on the improvement of everyday life of people on both sides of the border, which is one of the ideas of European projects”, said Andrija Aleksić, in charge of neighbourhood programmes at the Office for European Affairs. After the first call for proposals of the CBC Programme with Romania (covering the districts of North Banat, Central Banat and South Banat in Vojvodina and the districts of Bor and Braničevo in Serbia proper) has closed, a total of 36 submitted projects have been administratively accepted. 15 out of that number will be financed. Vojvodina will receive over a million euros, to be precise 1,081,293, through ten financed projects. Thus, a support of €47,000 for talented children will arrive to South Banat and the region of Timisoara. Expo-Agro Banat and the city of Zrenjanin will receive €89,350 for organizing a fair where farmers from Serbia and Romania will meet and present themselves. Čoka Municipality will get €46,365 for the project “From Football to Food Ball” on cultural cooperation with the Romanian municipality of Deta through workshops on sports and gastronomy. The project “Banat Food” of the Centre for Rural Development in Novi Kneževac, worth €251,395, will allow food producers in the border area to receive education in introducing quality standards. Vršac Municipality will receive over a million euros! €106,262 for the project on environmental improvement, €270,000 for a feasibility study and design of a project idea for the road Vršac via Markovac to the Romanian border, and €67,610 for the Centre for Economic Development and Integration. Vršac in cooperation with the Romanian city of Lugoj will get €73,375 for the project “Signs to the Future”. Sečanj Municipality has created a project on the development of a regional environmental plan, for which it will receive €95,958. The Centre for the Development of Civil Society, Zrenjanin will get €33,477 for national minority rights.