NDA gives practical advice to Montenegro’s Chief EU Negotiator23 April 2012
At his visit to Hungary, Montenegro’s Chief EU Negotiator Aleksandar Pejovic proposed to hold a meeting with Zoltán Petykó, President of the National Development Agency (NDA). At the meeting Mr Petykó introduced Hungary’s experiences and development policy institutions.
The NDA remains open to exchange experiences with experts from any EU member state and pre-accession state to promote joint European thinking by sharing information. This idea lay at the heart of the consultation of the President of NDA and Montenegro’s Chief EU Negotiator.
The meeting addressed Montenegro’s pre-accession guidelines, especially its transition to receiving EU funds. The parties also identified opportunities of future co-operation, including the Twinning Program.
The Twinning Program was established by the European Commission in 1998 for the purpose of promoting the development of public administration and the transposition and application of EU law in member state candidates, potential member state candidates and other partner countries outside the EU’s borders. Within the Twinning Program, EU member state government agencies exchange experts to implement co-operation projects that are based on knowledge transfer and exchange of experiences, aimed at the capacity development of the receiving country’s institutional system.
The meeting included the presentation of Hungary’s development policy institutions and the NDA’s structure and operation. Regarding pre-accession support, the NDA’s President informed the Montenegrin party about Hungary’s experiences of the transition to receiving the Structural Funds. In respect of the latter issue, the NDA’s President pointed out to his negotiating partner that the NDA is now participating in Croatia’s Twinning Project to facilitate the efficient utilisation of EU funds, which may provide especially useful experiences. The Hungarian party also talked about its practical experience of cross-border programs.
As a conclusion of the meeting, Mr Pejovic welcomed the increasingly close relations between the two countries and confirmed that they could face an outstanding opportunity for co-operation by an exchange of experience between development policy institutions.
Source: National Development Agency