The Kingdom of Sweden supports projects in the environmental protection sector

Swedish Ambassador to Serbia, Crister Aps and State Secretary of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning, Ivica Radovic, have signed a contract which agrees on help and support of infrastructural investments in the environmental protection sector, in cooperation between Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency SIDA and the Ministry of Environment, Mining and Spatial Planning.

The Kingdom of Sweden has been one of the greatest partners to Republic of Serbia in improving the environmental protection. This donation, worth €2, 75 million, will help the development of infrastructural projects in environmental protection area, as well as provide help for Local Government which will invest in development of infrastructural projects, informational system, and project management guidance, said Secretary of State Ivica Radovic.

According to Swedish Ambassador Crister Aps, Swedish Government supports Serbia's endeavor to become a European Union member, and have set aside significant amount of funds for those reasons. In this process, environmental protection is one of the key areas that will be covered.

By signing this contract we have made an important step forward in collaboration of two countries, and environmental protection plays a significant role for Swedish Government. The purpose of this donation is to increase the capacity of Ministry and Local Governments in terms of building and preparing projects for infrastructural development of environmental protection. Total bilateral aid from Sweden will annually be €12 million, of which €4 million will go into environmental protection, Ambassador Asp explained.

Due to donations made thus far by the Kingdom of Sweden, the continuance of all the project activities related to infrastructural investments and installation of professional capacities in the field of environmental protection, have been enabled. As a result, the donations have already helped establish waste management system for regional landfill Duboko, and have assisted in managing the risk of chemicals. The period between 2010 and 2012 will be used to work collectively on creating a strategy for sustainable use of natural goods, which is planned to become acknowledged by this time.