Striving to make the National Assembly’s work more open, in September 2010, the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Separation of Powers Program and the Working Group for the preparation of the National Assembly’s new Internet presentation began revising the existing website. The technical construction of the website, the server and complete three-year maintenance was financed by USAID. On the behalf of the donors, the guests were addressed by Susan Fritz, Director of the USAID Mission to Serbia: “In the last European progress Report on Serbia the Assembly was cited for not providing sufficient public consultation about the content and impact of draft laws. While we recognise that USAID’s programmes alone are not enough to help the Assembly fix this problem, we are happy to partner with other donors, other programmes and the Assembly on increasing its transparency, accessibility and accountability”, said Fritz. She expressed hope that the new website will allow civil society and the public to play a greater role in determining what kind of a country Serbia will be in the future.

Gordana Comic, National Assembly Deputy Speaker and Chairperson of the Working Group for the preparation of the National Assembly’s new Internet presentation, explained the main goals the Working Group followed in its work. The new look and content of the Internet presentation is modern, accessible, interesting, informative, credible, secure, appealing, intended for different user groups and interactive, explained Comic. Among the most important new content she listed the virtual interactive presentation of the of the National Assembly House, multilingualism, the National Assembly’s presence on Facebook and Twitter, as well as a user-friendly layout presenting equally important content – pages dedicated to the citizens, National Assembly activities, international cooperation, European integration, and the fact that the website is adjusted for blind and sight-impaired people.

In his address, National Assembly Secretary General Veljko Odalovic thanked “Z Lab Media” company which presented the National Assembly with a virtual interactive presentation of the exterior and interior of the National Assembly House.

The new internet presentation www.parlament.rs was ceremonially launched by the National Assembly Speaker and Director of the USAID Mission to Serbia.