The Ministry of Regional Development received a delegation of experts from the Ministry of Industry and Technology of Turkey, a visit which lasted four (4) days, according to the plan and agenda, on September 21. The delegation was initially received by the Minister of Regional Development, Mr Fikrim Damka, and then Mr Besim Kamberaj - Deputy Secretary General of MRD, started the workshop with a presentation and announcement on the mission and objectives of MRD.

The first day (1) of the workshop continued the proceedings by the representatives of MRD who made detailed presentations to the Turkish experts, starting from the drafting of documentation, calls, manner of applying, evaluation criteria, to the implementation of project proposals and the Strategy for Balanced Regional Development 2020-2030. The Turkish delegation presented the Strategy for Regional Development in Turkey and the regional plans, then, in the next session, IPA projects in the field of regional development were presented.

On the second (2) day of the workshop, on 22 September, the Turkish Delegation presented an overview of Development Agencies in Turkey, such as their Structure, Operations and Legislation, Support Mechanisms of Regional Development Agencies and Regional Development Administrations, Monitoring and Development Assessment, as well as the Urban and Rural Settlement Systems Research Project in Turkey. During this day, the Deputy Minister of MRD, Mr Agon Dobruna, was also present, where he met with the Turkish delegation.

On the third (3) day, on September 23, the workshop continued the proceedings and discussion about the Regional Development Agencies in Turkey and Kosovo, where Mr Cihan Dinçer - Coordinator of the TIKA Program Coordination Office in Prishtina as well as representatives of five (5) RDAs in the country, were present, in which case they exchanged experiences and mutual information. In the afternoon session, RDA Centre was visited.

On the last day of their stay, on September 24, MRD, together with the delegation, visited the municipality of Prizren, where they paid an official visit to the Director of Development and Tourism and visited the capital projects supported by MRD, in cooperation with the Municipality of Prizren.

At the end of the day, according to the agenda, the representatives from MRD and the Delegation of Turkish Experts were received in a meeting in Prishtina by the Ambassador of Turkey in Kosovo, Mr Çağrı Sakar, with whom they talked about strengthening areas as well as bridges of cooperation to improve services in the Regional Development System between the Republic of Kosovo and Turkey, mutual exchanges in the field of regional socio-economic development in the future in programs of regional development.

MRD and the Ministry of Industry and Technology of Turkey pledged to continue communication and cooperation, where, in the near future, this will be concretized with the implementation of joint activities in the interest of regional development.