On Monday, October 5, 2020, in the premises of the elementary school “Feješ Klara” in Kikinda, public classes were held with the aim of raising awareness about the safety of children in traffic and improving traffic culture, given that due to their mental and physical characteristics they are among the most sensitive category in traffic.

Support for the implementation of activities was provided by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia – Traffic Police Department – Kikinda, whose representative together with project representatives visited several classes and pointed out to students what they should pay special attention to when participating in traffic.

Public classes included over 100 high school students, who were given symbolic gifts and brochures on cyclist safety on that occasion.

On Friday, October 2, 2020, in the premises of the elementary school “Feješ Klara” in Kikinda, a bicycle riding competition was held, with the aim of developing children’s ability to focus on movement while riding a bicycle and better assess their own and other traffic participants’ movements. (distance, speed…).

The competition was organized in cooperation with the elementary school “Feješ Klara”, whose teaching and non-teaching staff gave their full contribution to the realization of activities and supported the project team in the preparation of the training ground and the necessary logistics. The competition was attended by over 50 students of lower grades, who were divided into two groups (first & second grade, or third & fourth grade) and according to age drove polygons adapted to their motor skills.

All participants in the competition were awarded prizes, while three first place winners in both groups were awarded prizes in the form of bicycle equipment (protective helmet, bicycle key, bell, safety reflective vest and water bottle).

Due to the situation with CORONA 19 Virus and the impossibility to cross the border between Romania and Serbia, the 3rd Project Team meeting held electronically, using Skype application, on Wednesday, 20th of May 2020, at 11.30 o’clock. Serbian partners meet in Kikinda, at the premises of Kikinda City Hall, Trg srpskih dobrovaljaca 12. The meeting was leaded by the Project Manager – Biljana Vuksanović, with the presence of all PP representatives, according to following topics from the agenda:

• Overview of implemented activities on the project;
  Each partner presented the activities carried out so far. All activities planned by the dynamics of the Action Plan have been initiated, and the only delay relates to the implementation of A.T1.1 Round table and A.T1.3 Training and Competition of school children, both delays caused by situation with CORONA 19 virus.
• Debate on the most important activities that lie ahead and potential modifications of activity due to the situation with the virus
  Several activities may be affected and modified due to potential inability to maintain. partners considered and offered solutions for each activity:
  A.T1.1 Round table – Round table will be organized during month of June in electronic way
  A.T1.2 Regional economic fair – will be organized as planned, within manifestation “Pumpkin Days” in Kikinda, in October 2020 (if the situation will be normalized) or organization of the Fair will be in smaller scale, possibly without Romania participants (if the borders stayed closed until then)
  A.T1.3 Training and Competition of school children – Education of school children will be organized in September when schools reopen. Contest of school children will be organized in the same period, possibly without Romanian participants if the borders stayed closed, or will be postponed for the early 2021.
  A.T1.4 Cross-border cooperation event -“Gastronomic route” – will be organized as planned – within EU mobility week in September 2020. If the borders stayed closed, will be organized in smaller scale, without Romanian participants, or will be postponed for spring 2021.
• Overview of the use of funds in half of the project implementation
  Discussion continued with the last points of the agenda, within which partners expose their spending until the end of third period. Namely, point 6 in PA talks about minimum total amount each beneficiary commits to spend and request for first level control by the end of the month marking the half of the implementation period is provided below (in our case end of 4th implementation period – 31st of July 2020). Beside the fact that situation with CORONA 19 virus jeopardized implementation in small scale, partners fulfill their obligation according to budget and spending forecast. After the discussion, it was concluded that only Municipality of Jimbolia might have a slight deviation from the planned plan, due to the fact that the competition for members of the project team was held in October 2019, ie in the first reporting period they did not have the opportunity to spend the funds planned in the budget line Staff. Partners will calculate in detail their spending until 4th period and it was agreed to do their best to achieve planed spending. If some partner would have delay in spending, they will notice to the LB about their individual delay in form of information notice and after that LB will prepare final justification at the project level.

The second Project Team meeting took place on Friday, 17th of January 2019 in Jimbolia, at the Jimbolia Culture House, and started at 14:00 o’clock, with presence of the majority of project team members, according to following topics from the agenda, previously discussed and approved by the project partners:

• Current state of the project activities
  Each partner presented the stage of the activities in which he is involved.
• The situation of the acquisitions launched/finalized;
  All partners discussed about the acquisitions launched/finalized during the current implementation period, also, it was discussed about public procurement plans of project partners. It was decided that in the situations in which the purchases are delayed to launch as soon as possible, in order not to appear problems regarding the percentage of budget consumed at the half of the implementation period.
• Preparing the reports from the end of the second implementation period
  It was discussed about the documents that must be submitted between the project partners to be used in the reporting for the second implementation period.

The common actions that will take place in the next implementation period
The Round table event was discussed which will be held in Romania, with the presence of representatives of the public and business sectors on both sides of the border and the event Regional Trade Fair which will be held in Serbia.

The 1st Project Team meeting took place on Wednesday, 14th of August 2019 in Kikinda, at the restaurant “Twenty” premises, and started at 14:00 o’clock, with presence of the majority of project team members, according to following topics from the agenda, previously discussed and approved by the project partners:

• Presentation of Project team members
  In order to establish good communication within the project and clear understanding of duties and responsibilities, at the begging of the meeting each team member has presented itself by name and professional background, as well as its role and responsibilities within the project. Majority of the project team are well known by each other from the previous IBC project, which will additionally improve communication within the team, as well realization of the project.
• Introduction of the project and its activities
• Presentation and adoption of the Action plan
  Discussion continued with the second and third points of the agenda within which the Activity and Communication Coordinator presented detailed Activity plan, prepared by RDA Banat, which containing the project activities & sub activities, outputs, deliverables and the related time frame. Team members had the opportunity to review the Action plan before the meeting. The action plan was commented to the details of the team members and it was conclude that some activities has to be moved, considering that in the application form was predicted that the project will start at 1st of January 2019. We are speaking about Regional economic fair connected to Pumpkin days in Kikinda, which are in October months and according to eMS needs to be held in May 2021. The second activity is Cross-border cooperation event -“Gastronomic route” which is connected to European week of Mobility (September month) and according to eMS need to be held in December 2020.
• Presentation and adoption of the Communication plan
  Thereafter, Activity and Communication Coordinator has presented Communication plan, also prepared by RDA Banat, which defined internal and external communication within the project, i.e. set out the information and publicity measures that will be taken to promote the transparency and visibility of the project, its activities and achievements, in accordance with the INTERREG IPA CBC Romania-Serbia programme.
• Establishment of Joint Steering Committee
  According to Partnership Agreement and project Application form, the Joint Steering Committee (JSC) of the project was established by Decision of the Executive director of the Public Enterprise “Roads of Serbia” – as Lead beneficiary, and contains of 4 members.
• Debate on the most important activities that lie ahead
  All the activities contained in the Activity plan, especially those that are foreseen for the first quarter, have been reviewed and discussed punctually. Also, it was discussed about public procurement plans of project partners, in order to obtain good coordination and dynamics of activities. One of the first activities on both sides will be promotional conference, scheduled for September and October month.

The eighth meeting of the project team was held on Wednesday, August 14, 2019 in Kikinda, at the “Twenty” restaurant and started at 9:00 (SER time) before the final conference of the IBC project.

The meeting was held in the presence of representatives of all project partners. The meeting was leaded by project Manager – according to following topics from the agenda, previously discussed and approved by the project partners:

• Presentation of implemented activities within the project and monitoring the achieved deliverable / outputs / target groups
  Irena Zivkovic – Activity and Communication Coordinator presented all the activities that have been implemented in the last implementation period. Team members discussed on each conducted activity individually.  The debate consisted in mutual information about the progress of activities performed on both side of the border, in accordance with the adopted Activity and Communication Plan. Regarding the revision of the achieved deliverables / outputs and target groups on the project, team took each item from the project AF and checked if it was realized or not. After analysing each separate point, project team reached the conclusion that the all indicators are achieved. Mrs Biljana Vuksanović went on and thanked the partners for their involvement in the implementation of the project, reiterated the fact that the cooperation among partners does not end here, since the new IBC 2 project started at 1^st of August.
• Debate on the final partner reports – final consolidated report
  Discussion continued with the second points of the agenda. All partners gradually worked on the last partner reports, which will cover implementation period till August 16^th. Partners agreed on submission dynamics, as well as main activities that will be reported in current period.  For this purpose, the RDA Banat has prepared a cross-section of what deliverables and outputs has been achieved so far and target groups situation. All payments related to project will be finished, by all partners, until 10th of September. Since all partners have 30th days from the end of the project for payments, we will be in line with the deadline for submission.  If the validation process is running with the predicted dynamics, Consolidated report is planned to be submitted until the end of November 2019. Partners agreed on representation of its achievements in partner reports, so that the PE “Roads of Serbia”, as a lead partner, would be able to formulate Consolidated report on the most comprehensive way

On Wednesday, August 14, in Kikinda, the final conference of the project “Improvement of Banat Connectivity – IBC” was held within the Interreg IPA Cross-border Cooperation Program Romania-Serbia.
In the past 2 years, the project has been successfully implemented by the Public Company “Roads of Serbia”, as a leading partner, the City of Kikinda, the Municipality of Žombol and the Regional Center for Socio-Economic Development Banat, as partners in the project, with the aim of contributing to better connectivity in the cross-border area. through improving quality standards in public transport and mobility services.

The total value of the project is EUR 1,813,477.53, with the contribution of the City of Kikinda, which provided the funds for the execution of works at the Nakovo border crossing in the amount of RSD 87,751,153.91.
During the project, a large number of activities were implemented and significant results were achieved that best reflect the importance of the IBC project.

The Nakovo border crossing has been completely reconstructed and its modernization has created the necessary technical conditions, as well as the safety and control standards as already existed on the Romanian side of the border, required for the long-awaited twenty-four-hour operation and traffic of buses and trucks of higher payload capacity.
Technical documentation for enhanced maintenance of the IB-15 state road has been developed and a 7.821m two-way cycle path linking the City of Kikinda and the state border with Romania has been built, which will enable easier and safer cyclist traffic.

The opening of the Office for Information and Promotion of Cross-Border Economic Cooperation in Kikinda and the creation of a cross-border network established structures and created conditions for better cooperation between the two cross-border regions and the promotion of good neighborly relations.

From the Romanian side, technical documentation was prepared and street rehabilitation along the 59C state road in Zhombolje was made, thus providing better access to the Nakovo – Lunga border crossing.
With all the activities carried out and the results achieved, the project is of great importance for both the City of Kikinda and the entire border region of Romania and Serbia, and the best evidence of this is the project “Improving Banat 2 Connectivity”, which started with implementation on August 1, 2019 and which enables joint activities to promote connectivity and mobility services between the two countries to continue.

Dear Sir/Madame

It is our pleasure and privilage that on behalf of Public Enterprise “Roads of Serbia”, as a Lead partner, City of Kikinda, Municipality of Jimbolia and Regional Agency for socio-economic Development Banat, as a partners, to invite You to the Conference “Improvement of Banat Connectivity” of the cross-border cooperation project, which is organized in the framework of the self-titled project.

The project “Improvement of Banat Connectivity” is realized in the framework of Interreg – IPA Cross-border Cooperation Programme Romania – Serbia.  project “Improvement of Banat Connectivity – IBC”. The total value of the project is 1,813,477.53 euros, of which 1,541,455.89 euros financed from IPA funds, while work on equipping the border crossing Nakovo (Serbia) additionally funded by the City of Kikinda, with a total value of 87.751.193,91 dinars.

The Conference will take place on Wednesday, 29^th of May  2019, in the venue of Restoran “Belavila”, Svetosavska 178, Kikinda, commencing at 10:00 o’clock (SER time).

The conference will bring together representatives from different sectors, with the aim of informing them about the project results, the potential of border local self-governments, as well the future possibilities of economic co-operation in the border Romania – Serbia region.

Within the conference, B2B meetings are foreseen aimed at linking the business sector on both sides of the border and introducing new opportunities and solutions offered by the project. This will be an opportunity for business representatives to meet and create new business contacts.

We kindly ask you to confirm your interest in participating in the conference and B2B meetings no later than Friday May 24^th to the e-mail address: ibc-cbc@kikinda.org.rs or by phone: +381 230 410 159.

Office for information and promotion of cross-border economic cooperation is at your disposal for any further information.

The 7th Project Team meeting took place on Thursday, 9th of May 2019 in Zrenjanin, at the RDA Banat premises, Čarnojevićeva 1, Zrenjanin and started at 12:00 o’clock (SER time) after the Site visit performance for the IBC2 project. The meeting was held with presence of all project partners team members, leaded by the Activity and Communication Coordinator – Irena Živković, according to following topics from the agenda, previously discussed and approved by the project partners:
• Presentation of implemented activities within the project and monitoring the progress of the project realization – undertaking corrective actions if necessary
Irena Zivkovic – Activity and Communication Coordinator presented all the activities that have been implemented in the 7th implementation period. Team members discussed on each conducted / ongoing activity individually. The debate consisted in mutual information about the progress of activities performed on both side of the border, in accordance with the adopted Activity and Communication Plan. The main discussed topics were establishment of cross-border cooperation office and infrastructure works execution on both border side. Construction of bicycle paths on the IB-15 state road in the area of Kikinda and the section Kikinda – Nakovo started, as well as works on the border crossing Nakovo. Municipality of Jimbolia continued works on rehabilitation of the streets adjacent to the national road 59C in Jimbolia. The 6.2 consolidated report was submitted and consortium expecting JS/MA validation in following days.

• 7th partner reports
Discussion continued with the second points of the agenda. All partners gradually worked on 7th partner reports, which will cover implementation period till May 16th. Partners agreed on submission dynamics, as well as main activities that will be reported in current period. For this purpose, the RDA Banat has prepared a cross-section of what deliverables and outputs has been achieved so far and target groups situation.

• Debate on the most important activities that lie ahead – organization of the cross-border cooperation event
Partners are discussed about activities that are foreseen till the end of the project implementation. Beside ongoing infrastructure works, the main issues is organization of cross-border cooperation event in Kikinda, which should gathered 100 participants with 20 B2B meetings. According to project AF and action plan adopted, partners preliminary agreed on event date (one day from 29th – 31st of May) and the possibly agenda was discussed. Also, partners considered suitable venue for event organization and RDA Banat will investigate proposed option with event organization service provider on Serbian side.
Partners also agreed on next press releases, as well as press articles dynamics till the project end.