NALAS 5th General Assembly Held in Istanbul

The 5th General Assembly meeting of the Network of Associations of Local Authorities of South-East Europe (NALAS) was held in İstanbul on 10-11 December 2009. The event was hosted by the Union of Municipalities of Marmara, NALAS member since 2008. Delegates from 12 NALAS member countries and representatives of the Council of Europe's Congress, the European Parliament gathered at the meeting, inaugurated by Faruk Çelik, Turkish Minister of State responsible for international cooperation.

The NALAS event brought together local decision-makers from South-East Europe, with purpose to discuss the topic of "EU Integration - challenge for local governments in SEE". Two round table sessions were organised during the first day of the General Assembly. The first round table, entitled "Involving local governments of SEE in EU integration process", focused on lessons learned from the new EU member states and on the collaboration between local authorities, associations and national governments in the accession process. The second round table discussed on "How to bring EU funding opportunities closer to the local governments in South-East Europe". In addition, a "marketplace" was set up on partnership for cross-border cooperation. Several existing partner databases were presented and new project ideas and partnerships were encouraged.

The Plenary Session on 11 December was addressed by Faruk Çelik, Turkish Minister of State, Yavuz Mildon, President of the Congress of CoE, Ludmila Sfirloaga, Chair of the Chamber of the Regions of the Congress, Tanja Fajon, Member of the European Parliament, Recep Altepe, President of UMM and Tarzan Milosevic, President of NALAS. The annual results of NALAS activities and its Task Forces were presented and important statutory decisions were adopted.

The General Assembly elected the following new management of NALAS: Vladimir Moskov, Mayor of Gotce Deltsev (Bulgaria) as the new President; Refik Rrugeja, Mayor of Kavaja (Albania), Özgen Keskin, Mayor of Yildirim (Turkey) and Anton Pershak from Association of Municipalities and Towns of Slovenia were elected vice-presidents.

Source: http://www.marmara.gov.tr/newsdetail.aspx?newsId=684