German Government's 120m EUR worth of support to Serbia

German Government has provided another 120m EUR for support to Serbia, and the aid is intended for improvement of public infrastructure, employment stimuli, and improvement of the capacities of government administration.

The Agreement was signed on October 16th in the Government of Serbia by the Minister of Finance of Serbia, Diana Dragutinović, the Head of the Department for Southeast Europe within German Ministry of Economic Cooperation, Leo Krojc, and the Ambassador of Germany to Belgrade, Volfram Mas.

Ms. Dragutinović said that overall aid of Germany to Serbia in 2009 reached the amount of 155m EUR.

- Of that amount, 121.5m EUR is the value of the support provided by German Government, while German Bank for Reconstruction will grant 33m EUR under very favorable terms - said she.

According to the words of the Assistant to the Minister of Finance, Gordane Lazarević, it is the loan with the interest rate of 5 - 5.5%, of which repayment period is 15 years, with the grace period of five years.

Ms. Dragutinović said that the projects would be focused on modernization of plumbing and sewerage systems in small and mid-sized municipalities, improvement of remote heating and energy efficiency systems, support to ecological land cultivation, etc.

She said that Serbia needed "help of friends" in the process of European integrations, and that Germany was just that kind of friend.

The Ambassador of Germany, Volfram Mas, said that, by signing aforementioned Agreement, Germany had promised to grant aid of 120m EUR to Serbia, and he added that, including those funds, Germany had helped Serbia with 870m EUR since year 2000.

- That makes Germany the largest bilateral donor after USA - said Mas, adding that the aim was to improve economic, social and democratic development of Serbia and make its approaching EU easier.

He said that the aid should be given to all the citizens of Serbia in order for them to feel the solidarity of German citizens and realize that accepting EU regulations meant introduction of the system of organized state.

Mas pointed out that political stability, good work by the Government, fight against corruption and regional cooperation were the conditions for Serbia's admission to EU, and he added that Germany would be Serbia's reliable friend on that way.