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In the period between 16 July and 20 July 2007 the USAID’s Business Environment Activity organized a visit to several Croatian cities for the 4 pilot municipalities from Macedonia- Veles, Bitola, Struga, Strumica. Four Croatian cities were visited from four different regions: Koprivnica, Varazdin, Pula and Zagreb. The Macedonian delegation consisted of 10 representatives of the pilot municipalities and two local experts, collaborators of the project. Members of the delegation were the heads of the budget and financial departments and the local economic development departments of the pilot municipalities, and the Mayor of Veles, Mr. Ace Kocevski and the mayor of Bitola, Mr. Vladimir Talevski.
The purpose of the visit was to introduce the Macedonian municipalities with the experience of Croatian municipalities that have undergone the process of fiscal decentralization and with successful implementation of capital projects. This five-day visit will play an important role in raising the awareness of the Macedonian municipalities concerning their creditworthiness, making plans for capital investments, borrowing, issuing municipal bonds and building the model of Public-Private Partnerships (PPP).
In July 16 the Macedonian municipal representatives visited the city of Koprivnica where they had a meeting with the Mayor of Koprivnica, Mr. Zvonimir Mrsic. They were presented a PPP model in the area of education, as well as the experience of capital investment with municipal bonds in the area of sports and recreation. They also visited the construction site of a new grammer (almost finished) school financed through PPP and the recreational center Cerine financed by issuing municipal bonds.
A meeting of the Macedonian municipal representatives with
The Mayor of municipality Koprivnica, Mr. Zvonimir Mrsic
On 17 July the city Varazdin was visited where the team met with the Mayor of Varazdin, Mr. Ivan Cehok; Ms. Jerka Kezele, Head of Financial and Budget Department, Ms. Zeljka Lukacevic, Head of Economy, Tourism and International Relations; Mr. Zlatko Horvat, Deputy Mayor and Mr. Vlado Kukec, Deputy Head of the Communal Affairs, Urbanism and Environment Protection Department. At these meetings, the Macedonian representatives were informed about the municipal funds and in particular, about the financing and construction of different infrastructural mechanisms.
The reception by the Mayor of Varazdin, d-r Ivan Cehok
On 18 July the study visit continued in Pula, where the Macedonian pilot municipalities had a meeting with the Mayor of the city, Mr. Boris Miletic. The same day they also had a meeting with representatives of the Istrian Region whose capital is Pula. The Macedonian delegation was received by Deputy Mayer Mr. Sergio Berncich, Mr. Oriano Otocan, Regional Government Member in charge of international cooperation and European integration and Ms. Slavica Bensic-Kirac, Head of the Budget and Analytical Planning Department and Mr. Miodrag Cerina, Head of the President Cabinet. After the meeting with the representatives of the Istrian Region, the delegation visited the regional water supply enterprise “Butoniga”, where Mr. Darko Bratulic, Director of “Butoniga” and Mr. Milan Anatolovic, Head of Water Management Department presented the water supply system.
A visit of the Waterworks “Butoniga”, in Istra
On 19 July a meeting was held with representatives of the Finance and Budget Department of the City of Pula where the experiences concerning the entire process of decentralization were exchanged.
On 20 July the pilot municipalities had a meeting with Ms. Andrea Hascek and Zeljko Kopcic from the Department for Licensing and Implementing Legal Measures HANFA, Croatian Financial Services Supervisory Agency (capital market, insurance, pension services) who described the fiscal decentralization process in Croatia in the context of local government bonds issuance.
The general assessment of the participants for this intensive five-day study program is very positive. Such an exchange of experiences presents in a best way everything that the Macedonian municipalities will be facing during the second phase of the fiscal decentralization which started on July 1 this year.
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