Improvement of cooperation of local and central level of public administration in environmental protection activities

  On 8 and 9 July 2010 in the hall of the hotel ''Princess'' in Bar, organized by the OSCE Mission in Montenegro, there was a round table entitled ''Improving Cooperation Between the Local and Central levels of Public Administration in Environmental Protection Activities''.
Opening words at the above-mentioned round table were given by a Deputy Head of the OSCE Mission in Montenegro, Mr. Waldemar Figaj and Director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ms. Daliborka Pejovic.
Mr. Figaj said he was particularly pleased that the round table was an opportunity to meet for the first time representatives of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ministry of Physical Planning and Environmental Protection and local governances in Montenegro.
Mr. Figaj, expressed readiness to support all initiatives coming from the municipalities,  certainly, in cooperation with the Agency and the relevant ministry, suggesting that special emphasis should be placed on raising environmental awareness among children of preschool and school age, and social responsibility of enterprises in Montenegro, as well as remediation of the so-called hot spots (black ecological spots).
   Director of the Environmental Protection Agency Ms. Daliborka Pejovic expressed gratitude to the OSCE Mission in Montenegro for current co-operation, their efforts and the significant role they had in the past decade in Montenegro.

   Addressing the audience, and speaking about the importance of this meeting with representatives of municipalities, the director of the Agency Ms. Daliborka Pejovic said that the Agency received numerous initiatives of the citizens  and NGOs in the recent period that environmental issues are addressed in a different way, referring primarily to the public and transparency in decision making.
On the first day of the round table, representatives of the Agency had a presentation on the following topics: Head of the Service for Legal and Financial Affairs Mr. Zoran Mitrovic-"Presentation of Work of the Agency - The legal and institutional framework, the responsibilities of the sectors'', Mr. Nikola Golubovic -''Presentation of the existing legal and institutional framework and practices of the Agency in cooperation with local authorities in the field of environmental protection, with emphasis on the future position of Aarhus Centre of the Agency and its envisaged role in the implementation of the Aarhus Convention ", Mr. Miroslav Jaramaz, Head of the Sector for Communication and Information System Management -''Presentation of the existing and planned databases related to the environment'', Ms. Daliborka Pejovic, Director of the Agency, "Proposal of the Regional Organization and Functioning of the Agency and future role of the Aarhus  Centre“.
After the presentations of the representatives of the Agency, there were questions and discussions by representatives of the municipalities.
On the second day of the roundtable, representatives of the Ministry of Physical Planning and Environmental Protection Ms. Brankica Cmiljanović, Ms. Maja Raicevic and Ms. Slavica Braunovic had the presentations on the topic: ''The role of the Aarhus Convention and the planned Aarhus Centre in the legal and institutional system of environmental protection''.
Then the representatives of the Agency, the Ministry and local government units divided into groups and had a workshop on case studies (practical exercises on the topic of cooperation between ministries, agencies and local governments), which is the best model of the future functioning of the Aarhus Centre.
According to the director of the Environmental Protection Agency, Ms. Daliborka Pejovic, the future Aarhus Centre will represent institutional nucleus, in which information about the environment and human health will be available to all interested parties.