A forum on cooperation between deputies and citizens was held at the National Assembly House on 18 May 2010, as part of the seminar for assistants at the parliamentary constituency offices.

The seminar and forum were organised within the pilot programme of strengthening relations between the parliament and local communities aimed at increasing the parliament’s transparency and improving cooperation between the parliament and citizens through direct communication between the deputies and citizens. The project was launched by the National Democratic Institute (NDI) in 2009 and is carried out in cooperation with the National Assembly and USAID’s financial support.

The forum included deputies, NDI representatives from Serbia and Macedonia, assistants working at the parliamentary constituency offices, representatives of the National Assembly’s Support Services, FPS students and students – interns at the National Assembly.

The participants of the forum were greeted on the behalf of the National Assembly Speaker Prof. Dr Slavica Djukic-Dejanovic and herself, by Judita Popovic, National Assembly Deputy Speaker. She highlighted the importance of direct contact between deputies and citizens and talked about the experiences of the Zrenjanin parliamentary constituency office.

Addressing the participants, National Assembly Secretary General Veljko Odalovic talked about the role of the offices in establishing a direct link between deputies and citizens and stressed that the National Assembly would continue to cooperate with the NDI and on more than just this project.

NDI Programme Director in Serbia Thomas Kelley thanked the deputies who took part in the realisation of the project and stressed that strong partnership and cooperation between NDI and the parliament aim to strengthen the assembly’s representative and legislative function, as well as bring the parliament closer to the citizens.

In his opening address, Doc. Dr Slavisa Orlovic of the Faculty of Political Science highlighted the importance of the partnership between deputies and citizens as it contributes to democratic development and improves the image of the National Assembly’s social importance. According to Orlovic the dialogue between the parliament and the citizens should be constant and open.

Deputies Mihailo Puric, Snezana Stojanovic-Plavsic, Munir Poturak and Jelena Travar-Miljevic talked about their engagement at the parliamentary constituency offices in Loznica, Leskovac, Novic Pazar and Zrenjanin.

The participants of the forum were also addressed by NDI representatives from Macedonia who talked about their experience in the implementation of the project in Macedonia where 53 parliamentary constituency offices had been opened.