Deputy Speaker Arsic highlighted the importance of the project’s results, adding how pleased he was to have been one of its signatories. The project, realized with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), has for example made committee meetings outside of the National Assembly seat possible and resulted in the launching of the Public Finance Supervision Portal. Arsic said that thanks to project “Strengthening the Oversight Role and Transparency of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia” the Serbian Parliament has become a leader in the region and widely recognized in the world. Serbia is also one of few countries to have, in addition to the Public Finance Supervision Portal, a Parliamentary Budget Office. He said that he hoped the cooperation with UNDP and SDC would continue to grow and expand.

Deputy Speaker Gordana Comic stressed the opportunity to bring the work of the parliament and the MPs closer to the public as the most important aspect of the project. She emphasized the importance of having committee meetings outside of the National Assembly seat which gives the MPs the opportunity to visit smaller towns and places in Serbia and talk to the people. Comic also spoke of the results achieved by the Women’s Parliamentary Network, GOPAC, Focus Group for the Development of Control Mechanisms for the Process of Implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in the Republic of Serbia and mentioned Parliamentary Week which the National Assembly has now been organizing for three years running.

Swiss Foreign Ministry deputy state secretary Krystyna Marty Lang was pleased to hear about the project’s positive effects and results and hoped that the successful cooperation would continue to follow an upward trend. The officials noted that launching the Public Finance Supervision Portal in its full capacity would put the National Assembly in the select group of national parliaments which monitor public spending in a similar manner.