Second meeting of the Strategy board under the cross-border cooperation programme between Bulgaria and Serbia

How the projects will be selected for funding under Priority 2 "Integrated development of the border region" of the (INTERREG VI-A) IPA Bulgaria Serbia 2021-2027 Programme was the main topic of the second meeting of the Strategy board under the programme, held yesterday in Montana.

The members discussed and agreed on the basic approach of the Methodology for the identification of project ideas and the Guide for Application with concept notes.

"I believe that all of us, driven by the desire to ensure territorial, economic and social cohesion, are here to join our efforts in one direction, to overcome cross-border differences and increase the competitive advantages of our region," said Ms Desislava Todorova - Deputy Mayor of the Municipality of Vidin, who together with Ms Tatjana Panic Zivkovic, Regional Development Agency “South”, Serbia, led the meeting.

The selection of projects will be carried out in two consecutive processes – a process of identifying project ideas and a process of evaluating full project proposals. This will enable the selection of the best quality and mature ideas with the greatest contribution to the strategy, which will then be developed and presented as full project proposals for funding.

Project ideas that aim to create sustainable partnerships for the implementation of integrated projects with a multi-sectoral focus and high-added value for the cross-border region are placed in the focus of the Guide for Application with concept notes.

The adopted documents are an important step towards the launch of the call to select project concepts under Priority 2 "Integrated development of the border region".