September 23, 2009

23. September 2009.

Aleksandar Vesic, Assistant Minister for Environment and Spatial Planning, stated yesterday that reforms not only at the national level, but also at the local one, are necessary in the field of environment. At a press-conference that was held upon completion of the project entitled „Safety of the Local Environment“, Mr. Vesic said that local self-governments should have special offices for taking care of the local environment. He added that 30 per cent of the laws that Serbia should bring into line with the European Union refer to environmental protection. He also said that industrial contamination poses the greatest risk to environment. Thomas Moore, Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, who provided assistance with implementation of the project, said that the Serbian rivers are very polluted, particularly those in South Serbia, and added that they served for dumping waste.

Anna Zambrano, Head of the Department for Technical Issues within the Italian Development Co-operation, offered assistance to representatives of the municipalities with the projects dealing with water-supply and waste management. She said that implementation of the local environmental protection project resulted in raising the awareness of the local population and self-governments about the importance of the issue. Ms Zambrano stated that the project had been implemented in seven pilot municipalities, which include Vranje, Prokuplje, Prijepolje, Pirot, Medvedja, Leskovac and Bujanovac.