The event highlighted the project’s achievements and honoured representatives of local self-government units (LSGs) with certificates of appreciation. Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Jelena Žarić Kovačević, emphasized that one of the project’s key outcomes is the Local Self-Government System Reform Programme (2021–2025), recognized as a fundamental reform document for local self-governance. She also noted that the project provided financial support for 12 inter-municipal cooperation programmes, and that the Ministry will continue to encourage municipal collaboration through the Budget Fund.
Swiss Ambassador Anne Lugon-Moulin highlighted the eight-year-long successful cooperation between Switzerland and Serbia in the field of local self-government reform. She stressed that well-functioning local self-governments have been a common feature of many Swiss development projects in Serbia over the past 20 years. Switzerland has directly supported Serbian municipalities in various reform processes, including increasing property tax revenues, improving financial management and internal auditing, digitalizing services, promoting citizen participation in decision-making, and fostering social inclusion and gender equality.
Dijana Zogović Ilić, Assistant Director of the Public Policy Secretariat, presented the LSG Analytical Service, a key achievement of the project. This data platform, comprising over 500 indicators at the municipal level from 2011 to 2023, enables data-driven local development planning and ensures greater transparency in decision-making. She emphasized that the LSG Analytical Service has become an essential tool for both analysing local government performance and tracking the implementation of local development plans. The service integrates data from multiple institutions and official statistical sources and is publicly available on the PPS website:
Secretary-General of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities, Nikola Tarbuk, noted that the project has yielded numerous results, with one of the most significant being the adoption of the Local Self-Government System Reform Programme (2021–2025). He described the programme as a comprehensive document that outlines key reform directions and needs, emphasizing that its implementation is crucial for advancing decentralization and modernizing local government.
Other speakers at the conference included Jovan Knežević, Assistant Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, as well as the Ombudswomen of Niš and Kragujevac, Katarina Mitrovski and Jelena Milivojević.