ORF-EE and Association of Municipalities and Cities of FBiH hold SUM Training in Konjic

The GIZ Open Regional Fund for South-East Europe – Energy Efficiency (ORF-EE), in collaboration with the Association of Municipalities and Cities of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina (FBiH) – Savez općina i gradova FBiH, held a Training on Sustainable Urban Mobility in Konjic on July 19.

The meeting brought together representatives of municipalities of FBiH who were introduced to the concept of sustainable urban mobility (SUM). Participants were also introduced to the final draft of the Roadmap on SUM, developed by ORF-EE in collaboration with partners, including financing options available to South-East European (SEE) countries in the thematic area.

This training is one of several held in the past months in countries of the region, taking part in the ORF-EE Sustainable Urban Mobility in SEE Countries project. Trainings were organized in collaboration with partner networks and aim to strengthen the capacities of local level institutions in the area of energy efficiency and climate protection.

Welcoming speech in Konjic was held by the Director of the Association of Municipalities and Cities of FBiH, Vesna Travljanin. She used the opportunity to address all participants and welcome them on the occasion of the event. She stressed the importance of the training, highlighting the integral and sustainable approach of the ORF-EE project and the Sustainable Urban Mobility (SUM) Plans for local development.

Dubravka Bošnjak, ORF-EE Project Manager stated: “Our goal is to bring more SUM oriented projects to the SEE region, as this is a rather new topic for all ORF-EE partner countries. Sustainable urban mobility planning is the core of Smart Cities – a concept that is encouraged and supported by the EU.”

Vesna Kolega, Expert in the are of Energy Efficiency and SUM reminded that it is necessary for all countries of the region to focus on an integral approach to urban planning.

SUM Trainings were held in Srebrno Jezero (Serbia), Skopje, Podgorica, Konjic (BiH) and Tirana. Further trainings will be held in Bijeljina, Bosnia and Herzegovina, at the end of this week, and in Prishtina, Kosovo in September.