The second stage of the Leadership Academy for Cross-Border Cooperation started today, 22 November, in Bansko, Bulgaria gathering representatives of municipalities and institutions from the border region Bulgaria-Serbia. Participants included the following local and regional authorities:

• From Serbia – Pirot, Pirot region, Euroregion Nišava, Dimitrovgrad, Regional Development Agency for South Serbia, Free zone Pirot,
• From Bulgaria – Kostinbrod, Slivnica, Dragoman, Sofia region, And the University of Sofia.

The Academy is organised by the Centre of Expertise, City of Pirot, Euroregion Nišava, Kostinbrod municipality and the Central European Service for Cross-Border Initiatives Balkans (Cesci Balkans).

The Euroregion Nišava was founded in 2005, it is situated in the heart of the Balkans, on the crossroad of three pan-European corridors (X, VIII and IV). Although the Euroregion is very active in different areas of cooperation, the structure is still not stabile enough, vulnerable to frequent political changes, lacking strategically planed and managed sustainable cooperation platform.

The Academy programme supports this initiative to meet the need for support in both capacity building, and in complex legal aspects of the cooperation. The second stage of the Academy will result with a development of a joint plan of action for the establishment of a CBC governance structure and the main pillars of the CBC strategy plan.