United Nations

A report on average wages in former Yugoslavia countries and Albania, compiled by Anadolu news agency, says Slovenes earn most in the region per month, with average wages of 1,002 euro.

This comes as no surprise, as the country has been a member of the EU for almost 10 years and was the wealthiest republic in Yugoslavia.

BELGRADE - Serbia's public servants have to be fewer in number and more efficient, and although the surplus of employees in the administration is not large, they need to be better trained.

This calls for hiring and training civil servants in order to boost the country's EU integration, according to what was concluded at a debate on measuring the performance of the public sector.

Senior representatives of the Romanian government and the National Bank on Wednesday will start talks over the next assessment of the stand-by agreement with the IMF, the European Commission and World Bank.

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By Eleni Varvitsiotis

Competitiveness in Greece is “mediocre but improved,” according to the European Commission’s annual report released on Thursday.

Prime minister meets with IMF officials

BELGRADE -- Aleksandar Vučić has said that Serbia "has to continue structural reforms" adding that he expected the signing of an agreement with the IMF.

The Serbian prime minister made the remarks during a meeting with International Monetary Fund (IMF) Resident Representative in Serbia Deheng Kim on Monday.

Turkey’s failure in narrowing the gender pay gap has been highlighted by a United Nations Development Program (UNDP) index, which shows how the gross national income (GNI) is three times higher for men.

BELGRADE - The United Nations Development Program (UNDP) will allocate USD 1.5 million to fund a project aimed at improving the quality of life of the citizens of Serbia affected by the May floods and reducing the risk of future disasters.

"Serbia stabilizing factor, to play constructive role"

VIENNA -- Foreign Minister Ivica Dačić said ahead of a conference in Germany dedicated to the Western Balkans that this was "a region of conflict for too long."

He added that the Balkans "now wants the European Union to peacefully unite it," and that Serbia will be a stabilizing factor in this.

The ancient city of Ephesus in Ä°zmir has yet to be included in the UNESCO World Heritage List due to the site failing the meet the required standards, with work being accelerated in order to meet these requirements.

Donor conference provided "favorable loans"

BELGRADE -- Marko Blagojević has said that out of EUR 995 million which donors pledged for Serbia during a conference earlier this week, "115 million are pure donations."

The rest, the head of the Serbian government's office for flood reconstruction explained, are favorable loans.