The Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government, as the parental home of all cities and municipalities in Serbia, welcomes the holding of 49th Assembly of the Standing Conference of Towns and Municipalities (SCTM), and strongly supports the work of this association, which represents the interests of local self-governments with the goal of their even development.
One of the priorities of the Ministry’s work is to provide assistance to cities and municipalities in strengthening all their capacities, in order to provide efficient, professional and quality services to their citizens and the economy, in accordance with European standards.
Local self-governments are the bearers of reform processes, and citizens are the quickest to witness progress at that level of government. This year, the Ministry, in cooperation with the SCTM and with the support of the Government of Switzerland, had adopted and commenced with the implementation of the Programme for the Reform of the Local Self-Government System, which is an integral part of the Public Administration Reform Strategy in the Republic of Serbia. Thus, for the first time in the history of local self-government reform, a public policy document was drafted which sets the plan for strategic development of this area.
The vision of MDULS is to build an ADMINISTRATION TAILORED TO ALL OF US, an administration that is a service to its citizens and economy. The goal is for the quality of services which public administration provides to citizens to be the same at the local and national level, as well as to save time and money of citizens, economy, and the state.
The investments of the Government of the Republic of Serbia in local self-governments are greater than ever, and all infrastructural preconditions are rapidly being worked on to make them modern, functional and economically strengthened, while the Ministry of Public Administration and Local Self-Government is trying to strengthen local administration capacities, as well as the role of citizens in planning and decision-making. Citizens’ satisfaction with the quality of services provided by the administration and local self-government is the only measure of work and a precondition for the success of all reform processes.
MDULS believes that the participants in this year’s Assembly of the SCTM, through a fruitful discussion on strategic directions for strengthening local self-government in Serbia, shall reach quality conclusions which can be implemented in practice.
This year’s Assembly of the SCTM is organized with the support of the project “Institutional Support of the SCTM – Third Phase”, implemented by the SCTM and supported by the Government of Switzerland. The representative of the Ministry, Saša Mogić, had participated in the panel discussion in the programme part.