January 20, 2011

21. January 2011.

The aim of the Coordination Body is to ensure a better quality of life in South Serbia

Belgrade - The Coordination Body for the Municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja was established in Bujanovac on December 16, 2000. It was set up during a joint session of the governments of the FRY and the Republic of Serbia, with the aim of ensuring safety and security, while its current goal is to provide a better quality of life in that part of Serbia.

The very first President of the aforesaid governmental body was Nebojsa Covic, who occupied that position from December 2000 until August 2005. His successor was Rasim Ljajic, who held the position from September 2005 until August 2008, while Milan Markovic, Minister of Public Administration and Local self-Government, was appointed President of the Coordination Body in September 2008.

Nenad Djurdjevic, Director of the Coordination Body’s Office for the above-mentioned three municipalities, said that at the moment of establishment of the Coordination Body, the Government’s main priority was to ensure safety and security in South Serbia, while its most important goal today is to provide infrastructural development and the conditions for education, as well as a better quality of life for citizens from all ethnic backgrounds in the municipalities of Presevo, Bujanovac and Medvedja.

“Our main activities in the years to come will include education of the young. Mr. Djurdjevic said that a department of the faculty of Nis should be opened in both Bujanovac and Presevo later this year. He also said that departments of the faculties of the economy and law had been opened in Medvedja the year before.

Mr. Djurdjevic believes that the Coordination Body’s great achievements also include the establishment of a multiethnic government in Bujanovac in October 2010. He expects that the same would occur in Presevo.

“It’s important for us to establish communication not only between the Albanian political parties and representatives of the local self-governments, but also the one among all the citizens of central Serbia and Vojvodina,” Mr. Djurdjevic said.

According to him, the Coordination Body put a lot of effort into establishment of the Albanian National Council in August 2010, which is a sort of link between the Albanian National Council and institutions in Belgrade or the Serbian government.