On June 23, 2022, the first meeting of working groups within the project "EU support to reforms in the water sector services" was held at the premises of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.
In order to actively involve stakeholders in project activities, two working groups, at the national and local level, were formed in the initial phase of project implementation. The first meeting brought together both working groups, including representatives of public utility companies, key state institutions, and the representatives of professional associations operating within the water sector.
At the beginning of the meeting, the participants were greeted by Mr. Dalibor Joknić, Secretary of the Association for Communal Activities of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia, and Ms. Marta Mihailović, Independent Associate for Water Protection from Pollution in the Republic Water Directorate. In the introductory part, the data collection process on the functioning of public utility companies was presented, together with the preliminary results of the assessment of public utility companies. The key expert on the project, Mr. Yavor Dimitrov, further presented the potential areas of development of public utility companies and the benefits of this assessment for the water sector. During the meeting, participants had the opportunity to discuss the previously mentioned topics and to contribute to the further course of the assessment with their comments.
The project "EU Support to Reforms in the Water Sector" is funded by the EU and managed by the Ministry of Finance, the Department for Contracting and Financing of EU Funded Programmes. The beneficiary of the project is the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management - Republic Water Directorate. The project is implemented by EPTISA Servicios de Ingenieria S.L. Spain in the consortium with EPTISA Southeast Europe d.o.o. Serbia.