Donors’ conference, for the purpose of raising aid for Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina after the catastrophic floods in May, was organised in Brussels, 16 July 2014, by European Commission, France and Slovenia. Delegations of over 60 countries and 23 international organisations, as well as representatives from the civil society and private sector who participated in this conference, manage to gather a total of 1,846 million euros.

The Serbian delegation, which was led by President Tomislav Nikolic, also included First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic, Minister without portfolio responsible for European integration Jadranka Joksimovic, Director of the Office for assistance and recovery of the flooded areas Marko Blagojevic, Ambassador to the EU Dusko Lopandic and Advisor to the Serbian President Ivan Mrkic.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic said that 995 million euros in favorable loans and grants had been earmarked for Serbia at the international donors’ conference, adding that he was very pleased and proud about it. “A total of 1,846 million euros, of which 995 million for Serbia, partly in the most favorable loans possible, partly in grants, which are allocated to us to deal with the problem and remove all the consequences of the flooding, have been collected,” Nikolic said. He expressed his gratitude to all participants of the conference for their solidarity and support.

First Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Ivica Dacic expressed gratitude to the countries that allocated significant funds, concrete humanitarian aid and sent their crisis response teams. He said the region of the Balkans in times of this terrible natural disaster really showed a high degree of solidarity and, in a way, demonstrated the core of regional cooperation. He underlined his strong believe that we have demonstrated that as a region we belong to the system of values fostered by the European Union.

Commissioner Stefan Fule said that the European Union will allocate a total of EUR 195 million for the rehabilitation of flood affected regions in Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, underlining that the money was coming from EU institutions, and the figure did not include donations by individual member states. He pointed out that donors will provide part of funds for reconstruction, but that it is up to the countries that were affected by floods to use these funds to their best ability, and announced that in six months a conference will be held to check how the funds were used.