Young civil servants from the Western Balkans have completed today in Belgrade a two-week regional exchange programme within an EU project that aims at contributing to progress in the EU accession process and regional cooperation through building the capacities of young civil servants and public policy makers.
EU Scheme for Young Professionals in the Western Balkans is funded by the EU and implemented by the British Council.
Assistant Minister in the Ministry of European Integration of the Republic of Serbia Tamara Delić has emphasised the importance of the project as a good example of shared commitment to empowering young people and recognising qualified civil servants as partners. She has stressed that MEI will continue to provide support in the next phase of the project, and generally support all other initiatives for the professional development of civil servants.
“They are the pillar of future cooperation, they are leaders that will push reforms that are necessary on the road towards the EU”, stated Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia Mateja Norčič Štamcar speaking at the EU Info Centre. Norčič Štamcar has said that, working together, young professionals from the region have had the opportunity to exchange experiences and practices and receive training on EU affairs and particularly on regional cooperation, hence expressing her hope that they will make use of it in the future and that they will stay in touch both privately and professionally.
She has recalled that in 2016, in the context of the Berlin Process and Connectivity Agenda for the Western Balkans, the European Commission launched a project for training and exchange of young civil servants – EU Scheme for Young Professionals in the Western Balkans.
The programme is now being implemented for the third consecutive year, providing continuous support to public administration reform in the Western Balkans as one of the priorities in the EU accession process.
Young professionals from North Macedonia, Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Kosovo and Metohija completed the exchange programme in Belgrade.
One of the participants of the exchange programme, Ilija Mugoša, from the Cabinet of the Prime Minister of Montenegro, has said that during their stay in Belgrade they worked on issues related to economic growth, competition and investment and that they also wrote a paper on this topic which will be presented in Tirana in May.
Source: Beta
