Sweden, Serbia sign development cooperation agreement - EUR 3.5 million for Interior Ministry development

(at the meeting)

On 15 January 2013, Swedish Ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Christer Asp, met with the Serbian Prime Minister, Mr Ivica Dacic, to sign an agreement on development cooperation for the second phase of the project Development of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia 2012-2014.

The project, which is financed by Sweden through the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA), was already launched in 2012 and is expected to be completed in December 2014. The budget for the project is approximately EUR 3,500,000. It is being implemented jointly by the Serbian Ministry of Interior and the Swedish National Police Board.

The project is expected to support the ongoing reform processes at the Ministry of Interior, in accordance with the key priorities outlined in its Development Strategy 2011-2016. It includes three components: strategic support to the implementation of the Ministry of Interior’s Development Strategy 2011-2016 and Action Plan, establishment of the national forensic training centre, and the establishment of a system for intelligence-led policing.

With this project, the cooperation between Sweden and Serbia in the area of police reform has continued to evolve into a new, more mature phase. Strategic efforts are made to harmonise and align the policing in Serbia with the specific requirements of the EU integration process.

Prime Minister Dacic and Ambassador Asp agreed that the cooperation has so far been fruitful and constructive. The ambassador underlined that the Ministry of Interior continued to be the champion of reforms in Serbia. He declared Sweden’s unfaltering intention to support Serbia’s EU integration process throughout the new development cooperation strategy period 2014-2020.

In addition to this project, Sweden also supports two other strategic projects at the Serbian Ministry of Interior: the development of a modern Human Resources Management System and the development of strategic management capacities in the Serbian Ministry of Interior. The total budget for all three projects is approximately EUR 6,300,000.