Marmara Urban Forum (MARUF), organized by the NALAS member, Marmara Municipalities Union took place for the first time in the Istanbul Congress Center on 1-3 October 2019, under the motto of “Cities Developing Solutions”.

Over 16 and 17 September, 2019 NALAS will participate at the Research Coordination Committee of the H2020-MSCA-RISE-2018 project LoGov – Local Government and the Changing Urban-Rural Interplay. The Meeting is hosted by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, one of the implementing partners of LoGov.

NALAS participated at the Advisory Board & Partners' Meeting of the Center of Excellence in Finance (CEF), in Ljubljana on September 10th and 11th. NALAS presented its experience as a knowledge hub for local government development in South-East Europe, through peer to peer learning and exchange, while emphasizing the relevance of involving the local government perspective in the nationally-driven structural reforms, that impact local governments and their operations.

Mr. Jaroslav Hlinka, rapporteur of CoR opinion on EU Enlargement Package 2019 from the Committee of the Regions together with Mr. Boris Tonhauser (Technical adviser) visited North Macedonia during 09-10 September, where they had consultative meetings with the Mayor of Veles, Mr. Ace Kocevski, with NALAS Secretariat, the Minister of local self-government (Mr. Goran Milevski) and the Mayor of Skopje, President of NALAS, Mr. Petre Shilegov.

In the framework of PLATFORMA, NALAS, in cooperation with Association of Ukrainian Cities (AUC) conducted the Eastern Partnership Coordination Seminar: “Ukraine, A new political framework for Ukrainian local and regional governments”. The Seminar brought together representatives from the national and local governments together with AUC, its peers from Georgia and Moldova, EU delegation in Ukraine and Ukraine’s development partners.

ISTANBUL - Marmara Urban Forum will be held for the first time in Istanbul, Turkey on 1-3 October 2019 hosting more than 200 speakers from 25 countries and 3000 participants including 100 mayors, and the urban matters to be discussed include but are not limited to urban technologies, innovation, public space, immigration, climate change.

On 3 July 2019, the second edition of the Think Tank Forum was held in Poznań. This format of experts’ meetings from the Western Balkans and the EU was initiated during the Polish presidency in the Berlin process. NALAS executive director, Kelmend Zajazi participated at the "Growing together" panel, by stressing the role of local governments and the need to include them in the process of integration and revitalization of public services at the local level.

The 5th EU Enlargement Day organized by the European Committee of Regions took place on 18-19 June, 2019 in Brussels, Belgium.Mr. Shilegov, in his function as Mayor of Skopje and President of NALAS and ZELS, initiated his key note address referring to the development process in Poland during and after the accession process. The Polish experience was characterized as a role model for the WB6 worth be emulated and learned from due to its motivating success to improve governance and boosting socio-economic development by actively involving the local government level. Mr. Shilegov also shared with the participants a number of NALAS recommendations that can help facilitate improved governance via EU funding leading to local socio-economic development in the region.

NALAS contributions in the The Forum of Cities and Regions “Investing in Western Balkans - Investing in Europe” Local Governments session of 6 June,2019 focused on sharing findings of two regional NALAS surveys and active participation in the panel discussion dedicated to the topic of quality public services. Involving Local Government Associations at regional and national level as strategic dialogue partners was a recommendation voiced to all participants, who take sustainable and inclusive development seriously.

The Forum of Cities and Regions “Investing in Western Balkans - Investing in Europe”, organized by the Polish Ministry of Investment and Economic Development, in the framework of the Polish Presidency in the Berlin Process is taking place from 4-6 June in Rzeszow, Poland. The Forum is co-hosted by NALAS, The Association of Polish Cities and the Union of Provinces of Poland. The Forum will be a meeting of cities from the Western Balkans and partners participating in the Berlin Process providing the opportunity for an exchange with the European Commission, the Regional Cooperation Council and the Committee of the Regions to discuss the support on the Western Balkans in the process of European Integration and economic transformation.