The Protocol on Cooperation between Towns and Municipalities along the Big Morava Basin and the Upper Danube Basin – Banat Waterways aimed at reducing the risk and preventing the impacts of natural disasters was signed today in the Belgrade Assembly. The Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, Branko Ružić supported this kind of association and said that, owing to various activities in this field, Serbia is now much more prepared to deal with emergency situations compared to 2014, when we were affected by severe floods. Ružić said that the catastrophic floods of 2014 and 2016 caused us to face our lack of readiness for such extraordinary situations, as well as to understand the consequence of non-investment in defense capacities. He said that, it had still turned out that we are resourceful and persistent people . “We emerged decisive to face the next emergency situations, caused by natural disasters, more prepared and to start joint activities to eliminate the causes of climate change at the local level”. Ružić said that today’s signing of the mentioned Protocol is a new leaf of Serbia’s sustainable development. He stated that since 2014 the state supported the local self-governments and learned the lessons together with them and that with the serious support of donors and UNDP programs we have built “the system with which we participate and connect with the territories and countries in the region through the project SEE URBAN, because natural disasters do not know administrative and state borders “. Ružić said that the appropriate legal framework for this cooperation along the basins will be created, especially with regard to the disposal of human and financial resources for inter-municipal cooperation. “We have introduced local disaster risk reduction champions,” Ružić said, referring to employees in local administrations who are committedly working in this area and thanked SKGO, the EU, the UNDP and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN and the World Bank for their assistance. The protocols on cooperation were signed by the mayors and representatives of 22 local governments along the Big Morava Basin and the Upper Danube Basin. The ceremony marked the anniversary of the signing of the protocol on the cooperation between the towns and municipalities of the West Morava and Kolubara basins, and the results of this initiative, which was realized with the idea of reducing risks and preventing consequences of natural disasters, were presented. The goal of such cooperation between towns and municipalities is to create an institutional framework for the joint operation of local governments based on important international and national strategic documents for more effective preventive action and elimination of natural disasters at the local level and more efficient risk management.