“Allow me to congratulate Serbia for being the first country, which is not a member of the European Union (EU), to establish a youth dialogue mechanism in the EU – institutionalized through the work of the National Youth Council, but also operational at the local level through this project. Across the EU, this mechanism has proven to be useful for providing policy makers with valuable insights into the needs of young people and has helped create policies that are more youth-friendly,” said Plamena Halačeva, Deputy Head of the EU Delegation to Serbia at the opening of the “Youth and Local Institutions” conference, which was organized by the National Youth Council of Serbia (KOMS).