Deputy speaker attends conference on IPA funds in Skopje

BELGRADE - Serbian Deputy Parliament Speaker Vladimir Marinkovic participated on Tuesday in Skopje in a regional conference on oversight of IPA funds, organized by the Westminster Foundation for Democracy.

Marinkovic pointed out that Serbia has used 98 percent of funds under the IPA 1 program, his office stated in a release.

Serbian institutions will make special preparations for the funding under the IPA 2 program, which includes EUR 1,5 billion to be used over the next seven years to build human resource capacities, administrative capacities in the public sector, environmental protection and energy, he added.

Marinkovic said that he will put forward an initiative for the Serbian parliament's committee on finance, state budget and control of public spending to take a more active role in oversseing the spending of funds earmarked for Serbia through the IPA 2 program.

The participants of the conference in Skopje included parliamentarians from Macedonia, BiH, Republika Srpska, Montenegro, and representatives of the non-governmental sector and the media. The conference was also attended by member of the Serbian parliament's European integration committee Dusica Stojkovic.