12/12/2024
Anđelković and Krkobabić: A step closer to mobile shops in Serbian villages
"The Ministry of Rural Welfare and the Post of Serbia are on a joint mission to improve the lives of residents of all villages in Serbia," said the Minister of Rural Affairs, Milan Krkobabić, at the Palace of Serbia during the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation with PE Post of Serbia and added: "No one will be forgotten, even in the most remote village."
This document is just the first step towards mobile shops in the villages of Serbia.
"The ministry will enable the procurement of multi-purpose vehicles. In other words, these are mobile shops with all the necessary groceries and goods. At the same time, they are also ATMs and counters for providing all services - postal, but also local administration services. Everything in one place and accessible to everyone", said Minister Krkobabić.
Zoran Anđelković, Acting Director of PE Post of Serbia, thanked Minister Krkobabić and his team for accepting the initiative and signing the Memorandum as the first step towards the implementation of the project. He stressed the importance of the activities that the Memorandum implies, as he said, especially at a time when the number of households, villages and hamlets is decreasing, while there is an increasing number of elderly households that need support.
"We want to get closer to these citizens, not only to be there for all traditional services, but to expand the scope and be good neighbours providing assistance for everything they might need - groceries, medicines and other necessities. We will enable specialized vehicles or mobile counters to be at their service, so that citizens can complete all their tasks in one place, save money and time, which is demonstrated by the presence of the Ministry of Rural Welfare, the state itself and the Post of Serbia, because this is our joint action," said Anđelković.
This Memorandum appointed a project team that will define all necessary elements in the coming period, such as the type of vehicle, services that are missing in villages in certain regions, the optimal number of settlements that will be covered by the project, as well as other criteria.
Snežana Petrović, Acting Secretary of the Ministry of Rural Welfare and Olja Jovičić, from the Services and Sales Function of the Post of Serbia, presented the project and introduced the joint project team. It will consist of the most eminent experts from the two institutions, headed by Prof. Nebojša Bojović, PhD, Vice-Rector of the University of Belgrade, and Prof. Dalibor Pešić, PhD Vice-Dean for Scientific and Research Activities at the Faculty of Transport and Traffic Engineering.
"For several years now, we have been successfully working on solving the problem of rural population mobility, and I am extremely pleased to be involved in the implementation of another important project of the Ministry of Rural Welfare and the socially responsible PE Post of Serbia. The choice and configuration of vehicles is important, but above all another aspect of this action, and that is humanity in action," said Prof. Bojović, PhD.
Experiences from surrounding countries such as Slovenia, Hungary, Italy, France, and even distant Japan were presented. Their food delivery services, medicine delivery services, cleaning services, remote assistance, and various administrative services, intended for the population in remote rural areas, already function in this way.
On behalf of PE Post of Serbia, the attendees were addressed by Bojana Nikolić, Director of the Services and Sales Function, and Mirjana Rafael, Director of the Postal Network Function.
Specialized, multi-purpose vehicles will be purchased from the budget of the Ministry of Rural Welfare, and the Post of Serbia will put them into operation, maintain them, and use them to reach the most remote villagers.