Regional development strategy - RDA South

1INTRODUCTION1. IntroductionREGIONAL DEVELOPMENT STRATEGY FOR THE ECONOMIC REGION SOUTHRegional Economic Development(RED) started emerging in Kosovo inlate 2008 as an important model forcreating sustainable developmentin regions while, at the same time,helping to mitigate the social costs of transition,particularly by addressing unemploymentas well as part of an effort to build policyand organizational framework and institutionscompatible with those of the EuropeanUnion. At the initiative of the Ministry of LocalGovernment Administration, with thesupport of the European Commission LiaisonOffice to Kosovo, five inter-municipal partnershipagreements creating five EconomicAreas (Regions) and establishing five RegionalDevelopment Agencies (RDAs) have beensigned. The agreements mark the beginningof the EU RED process in Kosovo.Kosovo until now does not have a tangibleconcept of regional development policy. As adirect result of the turbulent period of conflictand post-conflict transition, followed by a relativelyshort existence as an independentstate, regional development has not emergedas a matter of priority. Consequently, there isno legal framework for regional development.The inter-municipal partnership agreementdescribes the reference framework in whichRDAs operate and institutional relations inthe following manner:With the aspirations to bring Kosovo closerto the EU, the inter-municipal agreement relatedto regional development may be seen asthe first step in the direction of creating specificregional development framework. The”The RDA will operate in the frameworkof the economic and structural policyguidelines determined by the nationalline Ministries dealing with topics relatedto economic, industrial and infrastructuraldevelopment in Kosovo. The principleof subsidiarity will be considered and corecompetences of the municipal administrations,which they are supposed to carryout by law, will remain unaffected.”EU RED approach is also aimed at introducingKosovo to EU economic and social cohesionpolicy. The European Commission has previouslyadopted this approach in several countriesof the Balkan region with a view to familiarisepre-accession countries withStructural Funds’ procedures and furtherstructures needed upon accession.An agreement related to Economic RegionSouth has been signed on 16 December 2008between the Mayors representing Municipalitiesof Dragash/Dragaš, Malisheva/Mališevo, Mamusha/Mamuša, Prizren, Rahovec/Orahovacand Suhareka/Suvareka.Subsequently, the Regional DevelopmentAgency South has been registered and fundedin June 2009. During the second half of 2009RDA South has established and equipped the4