The official contract signing ceremony for the beneficiaries from the cross-border region of Sharra was held on 20 March, 2017 at the hotel “Theranda” in Prizren, Kosovo*. In total, eight contracts will be signed for six projects, in overall value of 58.302 Euros, from which six applicants are from Kosovo* and two from FYR of Macedonia.

The official signing of the contracts with the grantees from the Second call of the ABD Grant scheme for the cross-border region of “Prespa” was held on 21 March, 2017 at the restaurant “Dve liri” in Resen, FYR of Macedonia. In total, ten contracts were signed with the grantees from the cross-border region of “Prespa”, from which with six grantees from FYR of Macedonia and four from Albania, in total amount of 64.729 EUR.

The ABD Grant scheme was implemented by the Regional Rural Development Standing Working Group (SWG) within the project ”Rural development through integrated forest and water resources management (LEIWW)” implemented in partnership with the German International Cooperation (GIZ) and financially supported by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Development Cooperation (BMZ).

The aim of the grant scheme was to support small projects in the cross-border regions “Prespa” and “Sharra” related to income generation by promoting sustainable use of natural resources, improvement of production processes, technology and quality of products and services through integrated water and forest resources management. Special attention was given to the economic activities of women and young people in the cross-border areas.

The promotion and coordination of the ABD Grant Scheme in the cross-border regions “Prespa” and “Sharra” was facilitated by the ABD approach within the European Union funded project “Fostering regional cooperation and balanced territorial development of Western Balkan countries in the process towards EU integration”.

*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.