The third Belgrade Conference, sponsored by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Poland, was held in Warsaw on 29 November 2019, with the aim of imparting expertise to their Serbian colleagues in the area of public administration and supporting the European integration process of the Republic of Serbia, as well as the comprehensive reforms implemented on that path.
The Delegation of the Republic of Serbia, comprised of the representatives of the Ministry of European Integration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the members of the Serbian Negotiating Team, had a series of meetings in order to discuss the experiences and examples of good practices of Poland in addressing environmental issues – with a focus on Chapter 27, on legal matters related to the work of the European Court of Justice, as well as on communicating the European integration process.
Assistant Minister of European Integration Tamara Delić headed the Delegation of the Ministry of European Integration at a special thematic session with the representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Development Funds and Regional Policy of the Government of the Republic of Poland, dedicated to communicating the process of European integration and the visibility of European funds.
"We are grateful to Poland for supporting the European integration process of Serbia, for actively advocating the continuation of the EU enlargement policy – which was also confirmed through a joint letter of 5 EU Member States addressed to the President of the European Commission, as well as for Poland's continuous support through the exchange of expertise – in the capacity of an EU Member State and as part of the Visegrád Group", stressed Delić. She presented the main activities and results of the work of the Ministry of European Integration, as the main coordinator of communication on European integration and EU funds, and further informed the interlocutors of strategic information frameworks and communication activities in Serbia's EU accession process. As she stressed, partnership in the dialogue with citizens on these topics, and the support of the Serbian public to the European path of Serbia, are of great importance for the success of the process.
Highlighting Poland’s experience in the area of EU funds visibility, development and implementation of communication activities at the level of local self-governments, and improvement of the overall image of the EU and the European integration, the interlocutors agreed that such and similar examples of good practice may be useful to Serbia in informing the public about the European topics. In this regard, both sides stressed the importance of holding the "Belgrade Conference" on a regular basis, as a mechanism for political consultations and a model for exchange of experiences in the European integration process.
