Non-refundable aid of 5.1m EUR for stimulation of living standard of citizens of southwest Serbia

Representatives of the Government of Serbia and United Nations Development Program signed contract today (September 18, 2007) in Belgrade on non-refundable aid in amount of 5.1m EUR for stimulation of social-economic development and improvement of living standard of citizens of southwest Serbia.

The contract was signed in the Government of Serbia by the Head of UNDP Office to Belgrade, Lence Clark, Serbian Minister of Finance, Mirko Cvetković, and Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government Milan Marković.

Marković said that those funds would be intended for seven municipalities in southwest Serbia - Novi Pazar, Sjenica, Tutin, Nova Varoš, Prijepolje, Priboj and Raška.

- Basic goal of program "Development of Municipalities in Southwest Serbia - Phase 2" is the increase in employment rate and strengthening of local authorities, as well as improvement of public utility infrastructure - Marković explained.

Cvetković said that 4.9m EUR of 5.1m EUR was donated by European Agency for Reconstruction, UNDP and Swiss Office for Cooperation, while municipalities would provide about 265,000 EUR from their budgets.