As part of a project intended to strengthen the poverty reduction capacities of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia committees, members of seven chosen National Assembly committees visited Bulgaria between 25 and 29 January 2009. The visit was organised by the Belgrade Fund for Political Excellence in cooperation with the UNDP office.

The National Assembly delegation comprised the members of the Poverty Reduction Committee, Committee on Labour, Ex-Servicemen’s and Social Issues, Education Committee, Gender Equality Committee, Local Self-Government Committee, Committee on Health and the Family and the Agriculture Committee and deputies. The delegation was headed by the Chairpeople of the Poverty Reduction Committee and the Committee on Labour, Ex-Servicemen’s and Social Issues, Snezana Stojanovic Plavsic and Meho Omerovic.

The goal of the visit was to brief the committee members on the activities, measures and specific solutions implemented to reduce poverty in Bulgaria.

The deputies and committee members met with key state actors, Deputy Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Jasen Janev, as well as representatives of other expert services and directorates within the same ministry, representatives of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, representatives of non-government organisations and the president of the Bulgarian Economic and Social Council. The delegation members were able to directly view the examples of good practice on the local level in the Veliko Trnovo region.

Observing the experiences of the combat against poverty in a regional context, the participants could note the examples of good practice, as well as potential ways to overcome the shared challenges on the road to the European Union. In the discussion with the representatives of various institutions dealing with the issue of poverty, the National Assembly delegation received the knowledge and skills from Bulgarian practice concerning the increase of employment, social dialogue, social inclusion and problems of particularly vulnerable population groups, development of education, as well as environmental protection.