At the invitation of the municipal authorities, the Chairman of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia, Predrag Markovic, paid a visit to the town of Arilje on Saturday, 28 May 2005. At a special session of the municipal assembly, held to mark the feast-day of St Achilleos, patron saint of Arilje, Mr Markovic said that Arilje had made significant progress over the past ten years, thereby providing a good example for local communities in the process of European integration. He underlined the importance of co-operation between all levels of government and the Serbian Orthodox Church in the process of European integration, as well as the need for accelerating work on restructuring public enterprises – thereby ensuring they operated more efficiently and suppressing monopolies in the Serbian market.

In addition to the Chairman of the Serbian Assembly, the special session of the Arilje municipal assembly was also attended by deputies from the region, representatives of local authorities from Pozega, Uzice and Cacak, dignitaries of the Serbian Orthodox Church, as well as members of the diplomatic corps.