ZAGREB, February 7, 2017 – The Ministry of Regional Development and EU Funds on Wednesday signed a 303.4 million euro grant agreement on the implementation of the Integrated Territorial Investment (ITI) mechanism within the framework of the EU “Competitiveness and Cohesion” programme for seven Croatian cities for projects that each of them have selected from the thematic areas that the mechanism covers.
As of today, the City of Zagreb has 114.9 million euro at its disposal from EU funds, Split 46.6 million, Rijeka has 43.7 million, Osijek 34.6 million, Zadar 22.8 million, Slavonski Brod 20.9 million and Pula with 19.8 million for projects they consider will be conducive to their development, create new jobs and improve the quality of life for citizens, the ministry reported.
ITI is a mechanism for the 2014 – 2020 cohesion policy aimed at promoting sustainable urban development, strengthening the role of cities as drivers of economic development and promoting cooperation between local and regional government units as well as developing the administrative capacities of cities. It comprises a group of activities that can be financed in cities from three various funds, the European Fund for Regional Development, the Cohesion fund and the European Social Fund.
Activities eligible to funding within the ITI mechanism are divided into three thematic fields: smart cities – as drivers of sustainable and technological economic growth, sustainable cities – dealing with climate change and promoting energy efficiency and environment protection and inclusive cities – fighting against poverty and advocate social integration.
