Balkan Mayors Agree to Further Cooperation

An agreement on cooperation was signed by members of the Euroregion - Euro-Balkans Association, including Yordanka Fandakova, mayor of Sofia, Milos Simonovich, mayor of Nis, and Koce Trajanovski, mayor of Skopje, Novinite reports.

The association hopes to focus on positive change and development, according to members.

The three mayors agreed at Tuesday's signing that they will prepare a joint territorial planning development document within the year. This will be accompanied by projects for trans-border cooperation which they hope will attract European funding.

The three municipalities have each agreed to contribute €50,000 to carry out the planning study.

"We will leave behind all our conflicts, we will forget them in the name of our common future in a big Europe," said Trajanovski. "We have some unresolved issues between our countries and areas where we disagree, but our goal is to give potential to areas where we have understanding, and which can lead us forward.”

Trajanovski listed the construction of a railroad link with Sofia among Skopje's top priorities. He said a project such as this could create a basis for communication between the two countries. The project has been funded by his city in part, but is expecting additional funding from Europe, he added.

Sofia will retain the chairmanship of the regional association until March 2011, when the Serbian city of Nis will take over the role for a further two years. Sofia has undertaken to represent the "Euro-Region" association to European institutions.

"The three cities of Sofia, Skopje and Nis are close geographically and culturally, and should become an example for other regions on how to develop close relations," said the mayor of Skopje.