Sweden and Serbia have long-standing and strong cooperation in the areas of civil society development, local self-government and strengthening democracy. It is extremely important for Serbia to build its capacity to meet European Union standards on democracy, human rights and local administration and to enable their implementation at the national level.
"Civil society has an important role in monitoring and promoting reform efforts. With additional funds, Sweden continues multi-year cooperation with the Belgrade Open School (BOŠ), the Olof Palme Center (OPC) and the Center for Research, Transparency and Accountability (CRTA) in order to support the reform efforts of the Government of Serbia and promote democratization, transparency and accountability, as well as EU integration ”, said the ambassador of Sweden in Serbia H.E. Jan Lundin also added that Sweden's continued aid to civil society organizations amounts to approx three million euros.
Recognizing the importance of the development of local self-governments in Serbia, Sweden also approved additional financial aid for the development of local administration in Serbia, through the project implemented by the Standing Conference of Cities and Municipalities (SKGO) "Supporting local self-governments in Serbia on the way to joining the EU". The total value of the additional contract is approx 1,2 million euros.
Considering that public procurement has a significant share in the economy of Serbia, it is very important to continuously improve not only the legislation, but also the system and the way in which public procurement procedures are carried out in order to ensure better competitiveness. That is why the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) signed an agreement with the National Association for Local Economic Development (NALED) on support in the implementation of the project "Efficient public procurement in the service of economic development" with a total budget of 1,36 million euros.
"The goal of the project is the promotion of democratic governance through support in establishing a transparent and accountable system of public procurement and their supervision, improving public financial management and encouraging an environment for growth led by the private sector," said the Head of the Department for Development Cooperation at the Embassy of Sweden, Ula Andersson (Ola Andersson). He added that special attention will be devoted to the introduction of ecological criteria in public procurement procedures in order to develop capacities for the so-called "green procurement" that includes energy efficiency, as well as training of public procurement officials at the local level.
The total value of additional support that Sweden provides to Serbia in the mentioned projects is approx 5,5 million euros. As one of the largest bilateral donors, Sweden helps Serbia to get closer to the EU and meet its standards with more than 12 million euros per year.
Source: Embassy of Sweden in Serbia
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