9 cities from the Western Balkans establish a “City Network”

Mayors of Bar, Leskovac, Sveti Nikole, Elbasan, Mostar and Sarajevo, the legal representatives of Podgorica, Priština and Novi Pazar with the presence of Dr. Daniel Stinsky, Head of economics & development at the German Embassy in Sarajevo and Dr. Natalija El Hage, Country Director of GIZ office in Sarajevo, gathered in Sarajevo (Bosnia and Herzegovina) on 7 March to formally establish the EU projects City Network for the Western Balkans.

The City of Sarajevo initiated the establishment of the City Network, which will work on strengthening the municipal project teams in accessing EU and other donor funds and increase their project partnership base, resulting with developed and submitted joint projects for the benefit of the citizens.

This initiative is financed by the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and implemented by the German Cooperation (GIZ), with the technical assistance of the Network of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS).

The Mayors and representatives of the nine cities agreed that this Network has great potential to contribute to the development of the Western Balkans Region.

“Local governments’ absorption capacities remain one of the relevant issues in the EU accession process, as a potential for improvement of local public services. We believe that by learning and working together, cities can empower their teams and utilise the available resources for the benefit of their citizens”, said  Kelmend Zajazi, executive director of NALAS.