International donor conference to be held

International donor conference to be held

Serbia's minister without portfolio in charge of EU integration Jadranka Joksimović said after the meeting that participants today agreed that "a real international donor conference" would be held.

She thanked all those in the international community who already gave significant support, and for their readiness to continue to assist Serbia.

"We are immensely grateful and will know to appreciate in the future such gestures of friendship," said Joksimović.

According to the current estimates, the flood-caused damage in Serbia stands at around EUR 174.5 million, Aleksandar Vučić said earlier in the day.

Serbia now has over 140 centers that received evacuees from the flood-affected areas, 47 of them in Belgrade and 93 in other parts of Serbia, he noted.

A total of 31,879 citizens have been forced to flee their homes, 1,763 facilities have been either destroyed or damaged, and 2,260 facilities inundated, not including Obrenovac, the prime minister said.

Furthermore, 39 municipalities are suffering from the consequences of the floods in Serbia, meaning 1,643,832 citizens, 30 bridges on the categorized roads were torn down, 50 damaged, while around 200 bridges were damaged or destroyed on the municipal and non-categorized roads.

Over 20 categorized roads and several hundred municipal and non-categorized roads have been damaged due to slides and landslides, the biggest damage in financial terms being along Corridor 10, near Dimitrovgrad, which has been estimated at over EUR 10 million, Vučić told international donors.

In the coming period, Serbia will see an extensive renovation of the Belgrade-Bar railway, he said.

Noting that the electric power sector and agriculture have suffered greater damage than other industries, Vučić said that 75,000-83,000 ha of arable land has been flooded.

“This will reflect in a modest increase or drop of the agricultural and overall production. Therefore, we need to step up the implementation of economic reforms, and we will also have to generate a greater economic growth,” he said.

Vučić said that due to the damage on the electric power system, Serbia is being forced to buy electricity for half a million to million euros per day, but underlined that it is good news that the Kolubara mine will increase production on Thursday and deliver coal to the thermal power plant in Obrenovac.

“Our misfortune is so big that everyone can see it,” the prime minister said.

He said that in the next ten days, the Serbian government will prepare a plan for the country's recovery, underlining that the damage estimate will be done in a responsible and transparent way.

The prime minister said that, in the years to come, Serbia will need assistance to ensure any economic recovery, and urged international donors to help with their knowledge, money and in any other way.

He underscored that the aid will not be misused, and that the public will be able to follow how relief funds are spent on the website of the Ministry of Finance that will be set up in several days.

Vučić thanked all who have helped so far, stressing that Serbia will know how to appreciate that and assist them if need be.

Speaking about the international assistance, Vučić said that the rescue operations were carried out with the help of helicopters from Slovenia, Switzerland, Germany, Macedonia, Hungary, Belarus and EULEX, while the U.S. put 10 helicopters at Serbia's disposal.

Vučić thanked the governments of the Russian Federation, China, the United Arab Emirates and Norway whose donations will be used to recover some of the damaged facilities, while the greatest part of the repair works will be financed by the Serbian government.

Michael Davenport, who heads the EU Delegation in Serbia, said that the country can count on EUR 30 million from the EU to help solve most urgent problems caused by the floods. The EU will provide Serbia also with short-term funds to repair houses and infrastructure.

He stated that Serbia as a candidate country has the same rights to the Solidarity Fund money as EU member-states, and added that the figure would be determined later, once the damage has been assessed.

The international donor meeting was called to assess ways of helping Serbia deal with the massive damage caused by catastrophic floods opened in Belgrade on Thursday.

The meeting started with the participants observing a minute of silence for the flood victims.

Jadranka Joksimović opened the gathering this morning by saying that the government aims to inform officials of countries, international institutions and creditors that have been active so far in providing official development aid to Serbia of the scale of the floods.

Our goal is to inform international donors of the government's intentions and plans for overcoming the consequences of the floods, and assess possibilities for international aid for Serbia over the medium term, Joksimović said.

Also discussed at the meeting will be future steps by the Serbian government and international development partners aimed at implementing measures towards the country's recovery and coordinating joint activities, she said.

Diplomatic officials of 27 European countries, the U.S. and Asian countries, as well as officials of the EU Delegation to Serbia, the Council of Europe, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the European Investment Bank, the World Bank, the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator, the OSCE and the German Development Bank are attending the meeting.