News
Vice-Governor Dowgielewicz in Serbia for signing ceremony of RHP sub-project agreements
03 October 2014
PARIS - Representing the Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB), Vice-Governor for target group countries Mikołaj Dowgielewicz attended a ceremony in Stara Pazova, Serbia, on 2 October to mark the signing of agreements between the Serbian Commissariat for Refugees and Migration and nine Serbian municipalities, implementing partners of the second Regional Housing Programme sub-project in Serbia.
The Regional Housing Programme (RHP), a major regional initiative managed by the CEB, aims to bring lasting housing solutions to 74,000 vulnerable refugees and displaced persons affected by the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. The programme, which was officially launched in April 2012, comprises four Country Housing Projects implemented in parallel in partner countries Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro and Serbia, through several sub-projects and in phases.
The second sub-project in Serbia, worth around €13 million, will provide sustainable housing to 2,600 refugees (870 families) through the construction of 200 flats and 120 prefabricated houses, the provision of 300 packages of building material and the purchase of 250 village houses. Meanwhile, 125 refugee families received packages of building material financed as part of the first RHP sub-project in Serbia.
Also attending the ceremony on 2 October were Serbia’s First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dačić, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of State of the United States Simon Henshaw, EU Ambassador to Serbia Michael Davenport, Ambassador of Switzerland to Serbia and Montenegro Jean-Daniel Ruch, Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia Ambassador Peter Burkhard, and Head of UNHCR in Serbia Eduardo Arboleda.
Commenting on the signing of the agreements, Mikołaj Dowgielewicz said: “I am very pleased to celebrate with you this important moment. The first beneficiaries now have access to decent housing and can look to the future with optimism. We at the CEB would like to thank our Serbian counterparts for their relentless efforts, high motivation and professionalism. We look forward to continuing our close co-operation with Serbia, so that this painful chapter in history can be closed once and for all.”
Set up in 1956, the CEB (Council of Europe Development Bank) has 41 member states. Twenty-two Central, Eastern and South Eastern European countries, forming the Bank's target countries, are listed among the member states. As a major instrument of the policy of solidarity in Europe, the Bank finances social projects by making available resources raised in conditions reflecting the quality of its rating (Aa1 with Moody's, outlook stable, AA+ with Standard & Poor's, outlook stable and AA+ with Fitch Ratings, outlook stable). It thus grants loans to its member states, and to financial institutions and local authorities in its member states for the financing of projects in the social sector, in accordance with its Articles of Agreement.