Kosovo has become the fifth entity in Western Balkans to sign the Vienna Declaration on Informal Settlements in South Eastern Europe, thus joining regional efforts to formulate and implement sustainable housing and urban development strategies. 

UNMIK’s representative of the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning in Kosovo, supported by Minister Bajram Kosumi who was recently appointed Prime Minister of Kosovo, signed the Declaration on 17 March 2005.  Beyond reaffirming the commitment to resolve and prevent informal housing development, the Declaration emphasises the need to develop adequate policies, legal frameworks, institutions and planning approaches to ensure affordable housing and sustainable urban development in South Eastern Europe

Originally signed in October 2004 in the presence of UN-Habitat’s Director of Global Division and the Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, the Vienna Declaration now encompasses the Governments of Albania, Serbia and Montenegro and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, as well as the Provisional Institutions of Kosovo/UNMIK.  

During a “Technical workshop on housing and urban management” held in Brussels on 22-23 March 2005, Ministerial action-plans to implement the Vienna Declaration commitments have been presented and reviewed for the first time.   In order to support the SEE countries in implementing these commitments, SEE Ministries, Stability Pact, UN-HABITAT and other key partners agreed to work towards a capacity building programme for urban development and housing in the SEE region.  

In the course of this workshop, representatives of relevant SEE Ministries, UN-HABIAT, the World Bank Institute, the Council of Europe and the Stability Pact also entered the capacity building programme formulation phase and discussed substantive programme components.  Further operational details of the programme, envisaged to build a self-sustaining capacity in the public and the private sector over a period of 4-6 years, will be discussed with an extended stakeholder group in a second workshop to be held in Vienna on 11 May 2005.

For more information, please contact Stability Pact’s Spokesperson
Mr. Dragan Barbutovski at the SP Secretariat in Brussels
(+32-2-4018725 or press@stabilitypact.org).