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The Government of the Republic of Serbia

In the service of citizens

Project “Beautiful Serbia” provides jobs to more than 320 previously unemployed

Belgrade, 16 December 2005

Within the framework of the economic project “Beautiful Serbia”, which was implemented in cooperation with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), in the previous two years in Serbia, 238 unemployed persons received vocational training, while 321 persons found temporary jobs.

Slobodan Lalovic, left, and Rastislav Vrbensky

The project worth more than $2.5 million was financed by the governments of Canada, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece, while in Belgrade, Nis and Zrenjanin it was implemented by the Serbian Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Policy in cooperation with the UNDP.

Serbian Minister of Labour, Employment and Social Policy Slobodan Lalovic said at a press conference held at the Serbian government on the occasion of the conclusion of the project that its basis was change of concept of work of the unemployed in Serbia, whose number according to official statistics is 900,000, from which 550,000 are actively looking for a job.

According to Lalovic, those trained in this project learned that they will not have only one job throughout their life and that they must accept training for jobs that are being offered on the market.

Lalovic said that this year there was a significant growth of job vacancies, and added that 45,000 vacancies are still available, but there are no interested applicants.

UNDP deputy standing representative to Serbia-Montenegro Rastislav Vrbensky said that it is a pity that the project cannot be continued due to financial troubles, and added that it was very useful for future programmes that UNDP will implement in Serbia.

Project “Beautiful Serbia” was implemented in places with a high level of unemployment and training mainly concerned construction work and temporary employment in companies that renovated 22 buildings in Belgrade, Nis and Zrenjanin.