Serbian Deputy Prime Minister for European integration Bozidar Djelic and Head of Delegation of the European Union to Serbia Ambassador Vincent Degert have signed a financial agreement between the Serbian Government and the European Union for the IPA National Programme, Component 1 – assistance in the transition and institution building in 2010. The agreement was signed at the Nis Town Hall and the signing was attended by the Mayor of Nis Milos Simonovic.
Under the agreement, 28 projects whose total value amounts to 174 million euros have been approved, and the funding is provided from the EU grant for Serbia. All projects will directly benefit Serbia’s economic development, the European integration process and everyday lives of Serbian citizens. The funds will be used for the programmes of support for the local infrastructure (€31 million), development of infrastructure in higher education (€25 million), and the support programme for South and Southwest Serbia (€13.7 million). Ten million euros are envisaged for the monitoring of road construction works on Corridor No. 10, whilst 10.5 million euros will be used to enable switching from the analogue to the digital radio and TV broadcast.
Ambassador Vincent Degert, Head of DEU Serbia, Mr Bozidar Djelic, Deputy Prime Minister and Mr Milos Simovic, Mayor of Nis
The EU assistance has helped cover the burning issues for Serbian citizens, said Djelic, and special attention has been paid to South and Southwest Serbia, he pointed out.
Ambassador Degert said that to the amount of 174 million euros another 12 million euros will be added from the youth programme. He underlined that the signing of the agreement demonstrated extraordinary cooperation with the Government and all Serbian authorities and added that the aim of the Union implemented actions all over Serbia, not only in Belgrade. Degert recalled that the EU had so far invested about two billion euros in Serbia and that it planed to invest another billion euros in the next five years.
Degert particularly emphasised the importance of infrastructure building in the energy sector, the construction of overhead power lines from Nis to the southern parts of Serbia and the establishment of a market that complies with the requests laid down in the European Community energy agreement. He pointed out the significance of the road and railway infrastructure to Greece and Bulgaria, whilst his hosts informed him about the plans to move the Nis railway junction to another location, which will be partly funded under the agreement.
During the visit to Nis, Ambassador Degert and Mayor Simonovic signed a financial agreement under which dairy plants in Nis district will get support for the production of milk and milk products. The agreement was signed at the dairy plant Niska mlekara. The funds amounting to 300,000 euros will be allocated to the members of the Southern Cheeses cluster.
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