July 31, 2009

The Japanese government has endorsed a drive LET’S CLEAN SERBIA with 66,000 EUR to utility company "Izvor" from Petrovac na Mlavi, a town in Eastern Serbia, and the funds will be invested in the promotion of waste recycling equipment. More from Sandra Pekić.

In the past years, the Japanese government has significantly helped Serbia develop local self-rules, build health care and educational capacities and cultural and sports institutions. Its total assistance to Serbia so far has amounted to more than 200 million EUR. The latest Japanese donation will be used for the purchase of a recycle waste transport vehicle, packaging press, cleaners and pet packaging containers.

Environment Minister Oliver Dulić, who attended the signing of a contract on donation, emphasizes this drive has resolved ecological problems in more than 57 Serbian municipalities. Wild dumps have been removed and communal infrastructure has been improved. Some 500 million USD have been invested in communal equipment and dump cleaning and some 5,000 people are employed in the public works system, he says. Belgrade is soon to have containers for recycle waste and owing to the Japanese donation, Petrovac na Mlavi citizens as well will have an opportunity to take care of the environment.

Japanese Ambassador Toshio Cunozaki said the donation to communal enterprise "Izvor" represents an investment in environment protection and support to tourism in Petrovac na Mlavi. He expressed hope this assistance will help in the raising of ecological awareness of people there and further promote friendly relations between the two countries.

Director of Izvor Radovan Raković said Petrovac na Mlavi is a small municipality with limited economic potentials, but that does not reduce its responsibility towards the environment. The funds from Japan will help us preserve the environment from further contamination, as we are going to set aside all the secondary raw materials for recycling and restore them into the production process, he said.

The fact that the Serbian Environment Ministry is committed to EU integrations in the field of ecology is proven by the recently adopted set of laws envisaging a stricter ecological policy, such as the Law on the Communal Police, which, as of September, will be fining entrepreneurs whose activities threaten the environment.