Enlargement Day 2017 – AP Vojvodina used 90% of EU funds

Ognjen Bjelić, Provincial Secretary for Regional Development, Interregional Cooperation and Local Self-Government, participated in the second session between the Joint Consultative Committee of the European Committee of the Regions and the Republic of Serbia, within the framework of the “Enlargement Day” forum, organised by this youngest EU institution. At yesterday’s session, Secretary Bjelić, a member of the 12-member delegation of the Republic of Serbia, presented the former results of the provincial administration through EU projects, as well as the general contribution of the AP Vojvodina to the EU integration of the Republic of Serbia.

The results achieved so far were evaluated as successful, given that AP Vojvodina used more than 90% of available funds through various EU projects worth more than EUR 100 million. Furthermore, the Secretary addressed the ongoing problems related to limited administrative capacities and emphasized that the provincial administration was actively working on their improvement, as evidenced by the new generation of participants of Specialised Programme, which was implemented by the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, and which was aimed at administrative capacity building especially at the local level.  In addition, emphasis was also placed on the Secretariat’s active engagement in greater coordination of local economic development offices in order to contribute to the faster development of local self-governments.

The fact that the next session of the Joint Consultative Committee is to be held in Novi Sad at the end of the year is of particular importance. The Chairman of the Committee Kalogeropoulos, representative of the European Commission, General Directorate for Enlargement Makridis and the other participants welcomed the efforts made by local and regional authorities in the Republic of Serbia, especially in the AP Vojvodina, on the road to EU integration.

On the side of the summit in Brussels, Ognjen Bjelić, Provincial Secretary, had meetings  with different  EU representatives, among others, David McAllister, European Parliament Rapporteur on Serbia, Franz Schausberger, IRE Chairman, who was to hold a lecture within the framework of the Specialised Programme of the European Affairs Fund of AP Vojvodina, and others.