Regional Development and Public Works Minister Valentin Tserovski Meets with Victor Costa Martins

The Minister of Regional Development and Public Works Valentin Tserovski met today with Victor Costa Martins, senior consultant with Citigroup, member of Strategic Committee of Notre Europe Association, member of the European Commission Public Procurement Committee and former European affairs minister of Portugal. The talks focused on decentralization and regional policy. Tserovski briefed the guest on the bill on regional development and the commencing process of decentralization of government. Mr Martins spoke of the Portuguese experience and said that his country is divided into 5 planning region based on a concept of democratic and efficient decentralization. He believes that strong control at central level and monitoring are instrumental in this process. It is also important that the experts have the right background, experience and competence to prepare programmes. Portugal understood that the topmost priority is accession to the EU, worked hard towards achieving this priority and when it joined in, it was fully prepared to utilize the EU funds, said Mr Martins. Public Relations and International Activity Directorate.