A meeting of the Joint Monitoring Committee (JMC) of Bulgaria-Serbia IPA Cross-border Programme took place in Belgrade (Serbia) on the 10th of November 2011 at the “Palace of Serbia”.
The meeting has been co-chaired by Mr. Ognjen Miric, Deputy Director and coordinator for EU funds of the Serbian Office for European Integration (SEIO), and Mr. Kiril Geratliev - Director General of the “Territorial Cooperation Management” Directorate General of the Ministry for Regional Development and Public Works of the Republic of Bulgaria. The European Commission was represented by Мs. Nathalie Verschelde, from the Directorate General “Regional Policy”.
The JMC, which includes representatives of the central administration from both countries as well as the representatives of the non-governmental organizations and the regional administration from the cross-border region has reviewed and approved the documents for launching of the Second Call for proposals of the Programme.
The total amount allocated to the second Call for proposals is € 8 741 808. Project proposals would have to target one of the following areas:
- development of small scale infrastructure (grant amount from € 200 000 to € 1 000 000),
- assistance to project preparation (grant amount from € 20 000 to € 70 000),
- enhancing the local administrative capacity for joint planning, problem solving and development (grant amount from € 50 000 to € 200 000),
- ‘people to people’ actions (grant amount from € 20 000 to € 100 000).
The Call gives the opportunity to the Bulgarian and Serbian partners (municipalities, business support organizations, educational, scientific, and cultural institutions, NGO’s) to apply with joint projects.
The Second Call is expected to be launched by the end of November 2011.