The second meeting of the Inter-Municipal Working Group for Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (IMWG for EE and RES) was held in Sremska Mitrovica. The chairman of the session was Aleksandar Veliciki, the representative of the municipality of Stara Pazova. After the adoption of the minutes and agenda, director of RDA Srem, Milan Miric briefly referred to the previous period noting that the municipalities in Srem through some of the implemented projects, took into account the possibilities of energy savings and use of renewable energy sources, and that the RDA Srem has successfully implemented a number of important studies and projects for the use of renewable energy sources.
Under the agenda item “Presentation of contractual cooperation RDA Srem with GIZ DKTI program, the role of MORG for EE and RES and the formation of Focal Point for biomass”, Mr Miric said that RDA Srem has reached an agreement with German GIZ DKTI program, which deals with the development of sustainable bioenergy market in Serbia. This program engages institutions as implementing partners where there are certain capacities and potentials of biomass which the Srem as a region has. After several consultative meetings with representatives of GIZ, a cooperation contract was signed which includes the IMWG for EE and RES activities and will play a key role in the identification of at least four projects that can be sustainable and that can go into the elaboration and implementation with common denominators like the use of biomass, biogas production, CHP plants, etc. Mr. Miric emphasized that, for the needs of this project, IMWG for EE and RES will be temporarily named the “Focal point for biomass,” which will be administered and coordinated by RDA Srem.
Under the agenda item „Presentation of cooperation with the Swiss Agency SDC (program of support to rural and regional development in the Republic of Serbia) and project initiatives in the field of EE and RES “, Mr Miric presented the cooperation with the Swiss Agency SDC within the program “Support to rural and regional development in the Republic of Serbia”, which comprises four districts that are the implementation area of rural development support. Mr Branko Milic, an expert on rural development and the representative of the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), noted the great importance of current cooperation between GIZ and RDA Srem in order to define other areas and exploit the potentials of Srem. Throughout the SDC program, at least three partnerships will be defined, and one of the most interesting ideas was the one of biomass in the region of Srem. In the SDC program, the application form for the partnership has been defined and has to be submitted by 17 October, 2016, and after which the potential partnerships for further cooperation will be defined.
The second IMWG for EE and OIE meeting ended with the unanimous adoption of the decision of the IMWG members for EE and RES that IMWG will have the role of “Focal Point for biomass” in the context of a joint project with GIZ.