The European Opportunity Week, the second one in a row, is being held this year from September 23 to 27.
The EU Opportunity Week ended with a series of panels and info sessions in Niš, where the focus was on local development, territorial cooperation and green transition.
The program started with the opening speeches of the EU Ambassador to Serbia Emanuele Giaufret, the Minister for European Integration Tanja Miščević, the Deputy Minister for Local Self-Government of North Macedonia, Ercan Selimi and the Mayor of Niš Dragoslav Pavlović.
The officials emphasized the importance of all interested parties actively participating in the programs that the European Union provides to citizens, organizations and public administration in Serbia, as well as in other neighbouring countries.
Certificates were also awarded to local self-governments and organizations from Serbia and North Macedonia, which in the previous period had already successfully implemented cross-border cooperation projects. Among them are, inter alia, non-governmental organizations from Leskovac and Skopje, the municipalities of Medveđa, Saraj and Kriva Palanka. They implemented projects focused on flood prevention, green tourism, social entrepreneurship.
The topic of the first panel was the importance of cooperation of different regions at the European level.
Assistant Minister for European Integration, Sanda Šimić, emphasized the importance of everyone getting involved in the consultation process regarding cross-border programs, as well as that the EU membership is important because such programs bring more funds.
The day continued with the presentation of various opportunities within the INTERREG program – from those with EU member states (Croatia, Bulgaria, Romania and Hungary), through cooperation with countries that are in the process of enlargement (Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia), to the program with a broader scope, like Adrion, cooperation in the Danube region or Urbact.
