The conference titled "New Challenges, New Perspectives on Local Democracy" was held in EU Info centre in Skopje.  The conference was officially opened by the HE. Mr. Christian Thimonier, Ambassador of France and  mr. Dejan Pavleski, Deputy Minister of Local Self-Government, professor Mileva Gjurovska, president of the European Movement and Ms Milena Dimitrovska, project manager form ALDA - Skopje.

The development of local democracy is the core of democratic processes and is one of the priorities in the European integration processes, which is why the strengthening of the democratic capacities of all stakeholders in the local communities and the intensification of the citizens' participation is of a particular importance. The conference raised questions about fostering local democracy, increasing citizen participation and cooperation between local governments and civic organizations in local policies building.

The panelists were: Ace Kocevski, Mayor of Veles, Ms. Kristina Hadzi-Vasileva, expert in the area of local democracy, Mr. German Filkov, president of the Center for Civil Communications and professor Ilija Todorovski from the Faculty of law in Kicevo.

The project is financially supported by the European Union within the IPA program for supporting civil society organizations.