Today, the Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government, Marija Obradović, received the Ambassador of the Swiss Confederation to Serbia, Urs Schmid, with whom she discussed the continuation of cooperation on projects implemented by MDULS with the support of Switzerland, especially in the part that concerns local self-government reform.
The Minister expressed her gratitude for the support of projects that are important both politically and for her personally, and relate to the principles of good local governance, the support for gender equality, as well as the vulnerable and marginalized groups.
During the meeting, the possibility of future cooperation in terms of empowerment of women leaders at the local level was discussed, bearing in mind that over 150 women in Serbia today are in leadership positions in cities and municipalities, which is a big step forward by comparison with the previous period.
“I fought for a larger number of women in politics and in decision-making positions in the parliament, and that is the first phase, the next one being to help those women achieve better results in the leading positions they hold,” said Minister Obradović.
Also, the meeting focused on the inclusion of society’s marginalized groups in the work of local self-governments, but also greater participation of young people, who have new ideas that need to be implemented in the work of local self-governments.
The collocutors agreed that the cooperation in the field of greater involvement of citizens in local decision-making needs to continue, which is part of the reform of local self-government, one of the leading bilateral donors of which is Switzerland itself.