The value of irregularities registered in public procurements in the first six months of the year totalled RSD 1.4 billion and taking into account the previous two years, the figure adds up to around RSD 5 billion, Director of the Public Procurement Office Predrag Jovanovic stated on Monday.

The Office informed the Finance Ministry's budget inspection about the irregularities but it received no feedback as to the activities carried out in this matter, Jovanovic said during a meeting on public procurement reforms.

Announcing the publication of the draft law on public procurement, Jovanovic said that the Public Procurement Office should be an independent institution with reinforced control authorities and it should not be supervised by the Finance Ministry.

Serbian State Secretary with the Finance Ministry Goran Radosavljevic noted that one third of public procurements are carried out without public tenders, by implementing the option for exceptions envisaged in the law. Out of RSD 314 billion in 2010, RSD 100 billion worth of procurements were realised without calling a tender.

He said that constitution of a central body in charge of public procurement would be a process which would take some time, but its constitution would make room for savings to the amount of two per cent of GDP.

The meeting was also attended by representatives of the EU, World Bank, European Bank for Reconstruction and Development and other international organisations.

The head of the centre for European integration and economy of the EU delegation in Serbia noted that public procurement would be one of the main topics in the talks between Serbia and the EU.

In the talks, we will not merely look at whether Serbia has adopted certain measures, we will also want to see the effects of these measures, Freck said.

Director of the World Bank Office in Belgrade Loup Brefort pointed out that the World Bank is providing strong support to public procurement reforms in Serbia, adding that the reforms should be aimed at increasing efficiency and transparency and reducing corruption in the sector.