Swedish donation of EUR 2.75 million for infrastructure investment in environment protection in Serbia

(Christer Asp and Ivica Radovic)

State Secretary of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning Ivica Radovic and Swedish Ambassador to Serbia Christer Asp signed on July 7th an agreement on assistance and support to infrastructure investment in the environment protection sector, estimated at €2.75 million.

Following the signing, Radovic stressed that, thanks to the Swedish government’s assistance, Serbia was able to continue with the project activities which it had begun earlier, such as the introduction of a waste management system at the regional landfill Duboko in Uzice, managing the risk of chemicals, and other programs.

The State Secretary noted that Sweden was one of Serbia’s most important partners in the environment protection sector, stressing that the Swedish donation would be implemented in the period 2011–2014.

Radovic also observed that they were focused on drafting a strategy for sustainable use of natural resources, which was likely to be adopted by the year's end.

Asp noted that Sweden’s annual assistance to Serbia amounted to €12 million, stressing that the goal of the latest donation was to develop and enhance the capacity of the Ministry and municipalities in terms of preparing and drafting infrastructure development projects in the area of environment protection, as well as to determine which were the top priority projects.

The ambassador said that Sweden endorsed Serbia in its efforts to join the EU, adding that on that path to membership, Sweden would monitor Serbia’s progress in the environment protection sector, which was on the top of international and national agendas.

The Swedish donation of €2.75 million will help to develop infrastructure projects in environment protection and extend support to local self-governments for the development of infrastructure projects, the IT system and guidelines for managing projects.

Ministarstvo rudarstva i energetike Republike Srbije

Ambasada Kraljevine Švedske Beograd

Vlada Republike Srbije

Christer Asp

Ivica Radovic

Duboko landfill

ecology