More than 50 projects for cross-border cooperation between Serbia and Montenegro

- Over 50 projects for cross-border cooperation between Serbia and Montenegro will compete for the grants from the IPA funds of European Union for year 2007 and 2008 in total amount of 2.2m EUR – said Gordana Lazarević, the Assistant to the Minister of Finance of Serbia.

The first invitation for submission of projects within the Cross-border programme Serbia-Montenegro was announced on June 25th, 2009, and 45 draft projects have already been submitted, while another ten or so are in the submission procedure.

The aim of that programme, as Ms Lazarević pointed out at the joint meeting of the Supervisory Board, is to connect communities and economy in order to improve the quality of life of the population in border areas.

She added that the projects would be evaluated within the next few months, and that the contracts would be signed and their realization commenced prior to March 2010.

The projects can last between six months and two years, and the amount of individual grants from the IPA funds will range between 15,000 and 200,000 EUR.

New invitation for submission of projects within the scope of Cross-border programme Serbia-Montenegro will be published in 2010.