Turkey-EU Leadership Seminar Series: Strengthening the Absorptive Capacity of Municipalities for EU Grants - March 4, 2008 As part of its EU accession strategy, Turkey will have access to the EU's Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) and will need to undertake large infrastructure investments to meet the requirements of the EU acquis communautaire. A significant part of these investments will need to be undertaken at the municipal level. Municipalities and municipal corporations will play a critical role in mobilizing the funds required to co-fund or co-finance EU grants. Therefore, the objective of the seminar was to share the experiences of municipalities from EU New Member States (NMS) in structuring investment packages to absorb EU funds at the sub-national level. The seminar was organized by the World Bank Institute in collaboration with the Bank's Turkey country team. Mr. Ibrahim Canakci, Undersecretary of the Treasury, Mr. Hidayet Atasoy, Director General of Iller Bank, and Mr. Ulrich Zachau, World Bank Country Director for Turkey made opening remarks. The event brought together 73 participants from 15 Turkish municipalities, the Under Secretariat of Treasury, the Ministry of Environment and Forestry, the Union of Municipalities, the Ministry of Interior, Iller Bank, the State Planning Organization, and the delegation of the EC to Turkey. The seminar represented an opportunity to share experiences from selected EU countries on challenges and mechanisms to access EU grants at the sub-national level. Practical experiences on local administrations investment programs in Turkey and the use of EU pre-accession grants were also presented by the Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality and the State Planning Organization respectively. Representatives from the Turkish agencies, Poland, Hungary and Italy made their presentations on the following topics: Financing Mechanisms for National Co-financing in case of EU Grants (Ms. Andrea Ambrovics, National development Agency, Hungary) Investment Program for Local Administrations (Mr. Mustafa Kemal Isler, Istanbul Metropolitan Municipality) Use of Pre-Accession EU Grants by Municipalities (Mr. Hasan Coban, State Planning Organization) Understanding and Overcoming the Constraints to Better Absorption of EU Grants at the Municipal Level (Mr. Tomasz Kayser, First Deputy Mayor, Poznan, Poland) Cassa Depositi e Prestiti's Role in Financing Public Investments and the Mechanisms used to improve the Capacity of Municipalities to Access Funding for Infrastructure Projects (Mr. Michele Mascolo, Director, Office of Organizational Development, Cassa e Prestiti SpA, Italy).
In addition to the above, the seminar discussed (i) financing sources for municipalities focusing on the EU institutional Pre-Accession grants, and the relevant legal, regulatory, financial and administrative framework in Turkey, and (ii) key considerations in the preparation and implementation of an Annual Investment Plan. Presentations: |
RSS