Statement on the visit to Sombor municipality by the Office for European Affairs

Igor Bajić, Advisor for EU Integration of the Office for European Affairs, and Nenad Djuretić, as a member of the Council of the Office for European Affairs, visited Sombor municipality on 2 October. During the discussions with Radislav Jelačić, Vice-president of Sombor Municipality, Goran Vukmirović, City Manager, Milan Stepanović, Chief of Cabinet and their associates, the representatives of the Office for European Affairs were informed about the projects under the CBC programme with Hungary which implementation was ongoing in Sombor municipality, and about municipal projects which were in preparation for the new call for proposals under the CBC programmes with Hungary and Croatia at the beginning of the following year.

During the visit to Sombor, the representatives of the Office for European Affairs, accompanied by their hosts, visited the institutions which had obtained grants and in which the projects were already in the implementation phase. In addition to the municipality, there were also the Teacher Training Faculty, Secondary School of Economics and Secondary Technical School. Summarizing his hosts’ success, Igor Bajić said that Sombor had received more than 30 percent of the total grant amount, whereas the number of projects had been less than 20 percent, which spoke of the complexity of the projects being successfully realized in Sombor and high-level project management training. Mrs. Melita Danilović, Head of Project at the Secondary School of Economics said that this school was fully capable of recognizing a chance on its own, writing a project and implementing it successfully. Igor Bajić added that excellent results like those were not only a great success of the Secondary School of Economics and the whole municipality of Sombor, but also an obligation to assist their colleagues from neighboring and other municipalities in the country and to involve them into the process of European integration in the best possible way – by submitting applications for EU funds and their successful application in local development.