The first meeting of the Management Committee for the joint UN Program “Peace Maintenance and Inclusive Development” was held in Leskovac on Friday, April 30, 2010. This inter-sector program implies the improvement of all segments of life in the Jablanica and Pcinj districts.

On Thursday, April 29, 2010, a sub-station in the Bujanovac “Sector 6” industrial zone was opened. The sub-station was put into operation by Nenad Djurdjevic, Director of the Coordination Body’s Office for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, Mary Warlick, the US Ambassador and Saip Kamberi, the President of the Municipality of Bujanovac.

US Financial Assistance for South Serbia The United States of America have invested, through the USAID, over 70 million dollars in South Serbia, mostly in the infrastructure and development of economy and culture, said the US Ambassador to Serbia Mary Warlick after  talking to representatives of the local self-government in Vranje.

Ivana Kovacevic, State Secretary of the Ministry of Youth and Sports, Visits South Serbia A regional fair of the youth non-governmental organizations “Inter-akcija (“Interaction”) was held in Vranje from 9.30 am until 3 pm on April 26, 2010, where the young of the Pcinj and Jablanica districts, including the young of the Albanian, Roma and Serbian ethnic backgrounds from the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, presented their ideas, plans and projects.

The students’ „Vukov sabor“ is going to be held in Loznica and Trsic from May 19 to 23, 2010, stated the Loznica-based „Vuk Karadzic“ Culture Center, which is the organizer of the event. The guests of „Vukov sabor“ are going to be young Serbs, Albanians and Roma from the southern Serbian municipalities of Presevo and Bujanovac, who are going to perform the educational and artistic program „You and I are We“ on May 21, 2010.

According to Stephen Wordsworth, the British ambassador to Serbia, the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, in which Serbia, the EU and USAID invested a total of 100 milion dollars, „stagnated for a long time because of the people who didn’t speak to one another, but the situation has changed over the past few years.”

Belgrade – Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja and Minister for Public Administration and Local Self – Government, said at the yesterday’s forum „South Serbia - From Frozen Conflict to Sustainable Solutions – Possibilities for Long-Term Integration and Regional Development“that there were problems in South Serbia and that the Serbian government and the Coordination Body were fully aware of them. „We are very far from any conflicts in Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) stated yesterday that it had provided, through the Economic Security Program, financial and technical assistance to a group of eleven small and medium-sized companies, so that those companies could represent themselves at the International Economic Fair in Mostar.

Thanks to the financial assistance of the Coordination Body of the Government of the Republic of Serbia for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja, the Development Agency for Presevo and Bujanovac implements the project “Change Yourself, Go for a Job”. Two one-day training courses (on March 26 and 27, 2010) were held, which were intended for students of secondary schools “Sezai Suroi” and “Sveti Sava” from Bujanovac, as well as of “Skenderbeg” from Presevo. The goal of these workshops was to train the students in how to successfully apply for a job. 

On Thursday, April 8, 2010, the Serbian President Boris Tadic inaugurated the “Lece” mine in Medvedja. This lead, zinc, gold and silver mine didn’t operate for full ten years. Attending the inauguration was Milan Markovic, President of the Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja and Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government.