Belgrade, 7th of February 2017 – On the premises of the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection, the first Steering Committee meeting was held for the project “Further Implementation of the Environmental Approximation Strategy”, funded from the European Union pre-accession funds. The objective of the Project is to provide answers to how, when, how much and for which purposes and projects in the area of waste and waste water management funds should be allocated in the coming period.

The results of this Project will be used by the Government of the Republic of Serbia in preparation of contents of negotiation position in pre-accession process with the European Union, and it will form a basis for requiring transitional periods for directives whose implementation implies high financial investments.

“Government of the Republic of Serbia has planned to achieve European standards in the area of environment in the coming 25 years. This implies that Serbia will be obligated to increase allocations for the environment in the forthcoming period in order to achieve more than 200 million Euros annual investments into the development of infrastructure and in order to accomplish set goals in the planning time period”, emphasised Ms. Stana Božović, State Secretary in the Ministry of Agriculture and Environmental Protection.

Successful future planning in this area requires good strategic planning that will be enabled by this Project, as well as strengthening institutional capacities and establishing a sound financing system through reform of the Green Fund in a way that will meet real needs of multiannual planning and financing of infrastructure projects.