At its sitting held on 8 February 2006, the Local Self-Government Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia adopted its Plan of Activities for 2006. According to the Plan, the Committee should meet at least once every month; co-operation should also be established with the Ministry of State Administration and Local Self-Government; work on a database on available funding for local self-government units is to be started; and, finally, co-operation should be established with other National Assembly Committees. The Plan also calls for establishing and fostering two-way co-operation with the Standing Conference of Cities and Municipalities, as well as with international, regional and expert local self-government organisations. It will be possible for the Committee to also meet outside Belgrade.
Committee members formally declared in favour of co-operation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). UNDP officials Katlin Zara Brašić and Davor Salom offered the Committee to organise seminars for its members on such subjects as poverty reduction, support in organising public discussions, study visits in Serbia and abroad, and consulting services for analysing proposed legislation. The programme’s formal beginning is to be marked by the signing of a Memorandum on Co-Operation between the Chairman of the National Assembly and UNDP.
As the Committee had received numerous submissions and requests which it is not authorised to deal with, Committee members agreed that the Committee’s chairman and secretary should be charged with reviewing material received and selecting items appropriate for discussion, as proposed by the chairman, Sava Urosevic. At each sitting, Committee members are to be informed of petitions received, as well as of where these have been forwarded.
The sitting was attended by the Assistant Minister of State Administration and Local Self-Government, Vesna Ilic-Prelic, and chaired by the Committee’s chairman, Sava Urosevic.