Bujanovac – President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, Zoran Stankovic, said that the Serbian Prime Minister, Ivica Dacic, would meet with representatives of the Albanian political parties from South Serbia in Belgrade on October 10.  

After meeting with representatives of the Serbian political parties in Bujanovac, Mr. Stankovic said that everything was arranged for the meeting of Prime Minister Dacic with the Albanian leaders, as well as that the ministers, too, would meet with representatives of the Albanian leaders in October.  

Following the meeting with the Prime Minister, it is planned that the Minister of Health, Slavica Djukic Dejanovic, would visit Presevo in the second half of October. We will start to solve intensively the vital problems of the citizens of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja based on the eight-point framework, which the Government of the Republic of Serbia adopted at the meeting of June 6  ", said Mr. Stankovic.  

He explained that the Government of Serbia’s Coordination Body had analyzed everything that was done and resolved over the past 12 years, as well as the things that weren’t completed in the area of the three municipalities. 

“We talked with all the people who took part in solving the problems, and in that respect, we, on two occasions, talked with Nebojsa Covic , who was leading the Coordination Body in the period from 2001 to 2005.  We wish now to put everything in one place and express the obligations that the government had taken in the past 12 years. We must carry these commitments out and state what has and what hasn’t been accomplished”, said Mr. Stankovic.

After a meeting with the leaders of the Serbian political parties in Bujanovac, Deputy Mayor of Bujanovac, Stojanca Arsic, said that the Serbs were satisfied with the Coordination Body’s work.  He confirmed that they had received a promise that  infrastructure and economic problems in South Serbia would start to be resolved.

President of the Coordination Body, Zoran Stankovic, spoke in Bujanovac with the Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia, Michael Davenport. It was concluded at the meeting  that the development of South Serbia was a priority both for Serbia and the European Union. Davenport said that it was the first time for him to visit South Serbia as the Head of the EU Delegation in Serbia, pointing out that he strongly supported all plans that contributed to the prosperity of the area.

“The EU Delegation is strongly involved here and we want to continue our collaboration with the Coordination Body and with all three municipalities, so that we could work together on improving the situation for ordinary citizens. We will also continue working on our large “Progress” project and I think I that will have have a chance today and tomorrow to see some concrete results and to talk with the citizens, "said  Mr. Davenport.

President of the Coordination Body pointed out that the creation of new jobs in the three municipalities was the most important task and said that the Head of the EU Delegation expressed a great need for taking  development  activities in that area much faster and more comprehensively, so that they could jointly  improve the living and working conditions of the residents. Mr. Stankovic stressed the need to to provide more jobs, because that is the main reason for the emigration of people from these municipalities and for the increase in the number of asylum seekers. On that occasion, Mr. Stankovic also said that another faculty would be opened in Bujanovac next year.  

Source: Politika, RTS, Coordination Body