At the 5th special session of the SO Berkovići held today, April 30, 2024, the draft budget rebalance of the Municipality of Berkovići for 2024 was adopted.

The budget rebalancing draft for 2024 reconciled budget funds and expenditures at a higher level, for the amount of 678,000 KM. The mentioned funds refer to grant funds under the EU4Agri project in the amount of 78,000 KM and funds based on taken loans in the amount of 600,000 KM for the purpose of financing/co-financing capital investments:

- Construction of a road in the village of Viduša in the amount of 200,000 KM,

- Rehabilitation of part of the local road Berkovići - Ljuti Do - Dabrica in the amount of 100,000 KM,

- Construction of a road in the settlement of Dabrica in the amount of 50,000 KM,

- Construction of communal infrastructure within the "Viduša business and production zone" in the amount of 250,000 KM.

The proposal for the Rural Development Strategy of the Municipality of Berkovići 2023 - 2029 was also adopted at the session. The strategy was developed as part of the implementation of the project "Support to economic development and environmental protection in areas with natural limitations in BiH - ANC BiH" implemented by the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute Bari and financed by the Government of Italy.
The Municipality of Berkovići has already adopted the Municipal Development Strategy for the period until 2028. The municipality's rural development strategy for the same period focuses on rural development and finding ways to solve problems and meet the needs of the rural population. On the territory of the municipality, the more urban part of the municipality is gradually being profiled as the administrative, service, and in the future also economic, center of the municipality. In relation to the Development Strategy of the municipality of Berkovići, which has a vision for Berkovići to become an organized town with a network of settlements by 2028, this strategy is more concerned with the part of the population that lives and should remain living outside that urban core, in other populated parts of the municipality. Although the goals of the two mentioned strategies are somewhat different, they are mutually complementary, emphasizing more one aspect of development that is not the primary focus of the other strategy.

Berkovići Municipality rural development strategy contains:
- Analysis of the current state of the rural areas of the Berkovići municipality, with an emphasis on agriculture, tourism, craftsmanship, the state of rural infrastructure and services available to the rural population;

- A concise analysis of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats of agriculture and rural areas of the municipality of Berkovići;

- Strategic framework, goals and priorities for the development of rural areas of the municipality of Berkovići in the seven-year period (2023–2029).

In the process of strategy development, an integral and inclusive approach was used by including representatives of various interest groups in the process of analyzing the situation and defining the strategic framework. For the purposes of developing the strategy, a local action team was formed that mediated between residents of rural areas, representatives of public and private companies and other forms of organizing the population and entrepreneurs, and representatives of the local government. The process of creating the strategy was supported by experts hired for these purposes by the ANC BiH Project. In this way, the process of developing a strategic document was based on the so-called Triple Helix access, interaction and cooperation of the private, public and scientific sectors.

The process of  Berkovići Municipality Rural Development Strategy development consisted of situation analysis  and definition of the strategic platform. State analysis phase included the collection and analysis of data from secondary sources and data collected by interviewing experts in certain areas of analysis. Secondary data were taken from various sources, from the municipal administration, the RS Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Management, the RS Institute of Statistics, the R Employment Agency, the Agency for Mediation, IT and Financial Services, public companies and from various documents of a program planning and scientific nature.

Defining the strategic platform meant defining the vision of the development of the sector of rural areas of the municipality until 2029 and determining the hierarchy of strategic goals, priorities and measures for the strategic period. This phase also included the harmonization of strategic goals with the goals of other strategic documents at the local and entity level.

The Berkovići municipality rural development strategy was developed with respect for the principle of transparency. Different interest groups were consulted in certain stages of its development. The situational analysis was available to the public via the municipality's website, and the same applies to the strategic framework, i.e. the complete strategic document. Two public hearings were held, one on the strategic platform, and the other on the strategic framework, and the final version of the document included suggestions and remarks from those public hearings, as well as those received in other ways during the public consultation process.

The Berkovići municipality rural development strategy development was prepared in accordance with the methodology provided for the strategies of local self-government units by the RS  Law on strategic planning and management of development  and the RS Regulation on strategic documents.