United Nations

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.

BELGRADE - The Executive Committee of the United Branch Unions “Independence” (UGS Nezavisnost) decided on Monday that its representatives will withdraw from the Social and Economic Council, saying that they refuse to take part in “the calculated, systemic suppression of social dialogue”.

BELGRADE - The Serbian government adopted at its Thursday session the bill to ratify the agreement on cooperation signed by the Serbian government and the government of Montenegro in the context of EU accession.

Bulgaria has observed just 16% of economic recommendations issued by the EU Commission, a European Parliament survey reveals.

The data cited by EurActiv shows the country is close to the European average, which is 18% and which shows member states largely ignore the EU Commission's proposals for reform.

NOVI PAZAR - Over the next three and a half years,the European Union and the governments of Serbia and Switzerland will set aside at least EUR 24.6 million in support of the development of 34 local self-government authorities in southeastern and southwestern Serbia through the European Progress Programme,the signatories of a grant agreement said on Wednesday.

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Culture and Information Ivan Tasovac will meet Macedonia's Minister of Culture Elizabeta Kanceska-Milevska on his first official visit to this country on Thursday.

BELGRADE - It is a great responsibility to chair the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), Norwegian Minister of Foreign Affairs Borge Brende said in an interview for the Wednesday edition of the Belgrade-based daily Politika, adding that he is sure that Serbia is preparing well for the role it is to take on in 2015.

The number of people driven from their homes by conflict and crisis has topped 50 million for the first time since World War II, with Syria hardest hit, the UN refugee agency said Friday.
      
The UNHCR said there were 51.2 million forcibly displaced people at the end of 2013, a full six million higher than the previous year.
      

From Euractiv

The Bulgarian government has nominated Irina Bokova, the current director-general of UNESCO, to be the next Secretary General of the United Nations, after the second mandate of Ban Ki-Moon expires in 2016.

It is the turn of Eastern Europe to lead the world organisation, and Bokova is seen as well-placed. She may also become the first woman to take the post.

BELGRADE - Serbian Minister of Justice Nikola Selakovic stated in Saint Petersburg on Wednesday that the commitment to safeguarding the fundamental values that the international relations are based on contributes to realization and further strengthening of the international law.