site.btaSEECP Foreign Ministers, Regional Cooperation Council Governing Board Meet in Western Town of Pravets

SEECP Foreign Ministers, Regional Cooperation Council Governing Board Meet in Western Town of Pravets

Pravets, western Bulgaria, May 31 (BTA) - The western town of Pravets hosts the annual meeting of the Regional Cooperation Council's (RCC) Governing Board and the foreign ministers from the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP) member states.

The SEECP is an authentic initiative born in Bulgaria, Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov commented. He recalled that the transport and energy connectivity of the countries from the region was among the main priorities. This connectivity adds value not only to the region's economy, but also to achieving one of the process' main goals, which is to deepen the integration of SEE countries within the EU, the Bulgarian top diplomat noted. He added that Europe would never be complete without the full EU membership of the Western Balkan countries.

RCC Secretary General, Goran Svilanovic also listed energy and transport as priorities. According to him, competitiveness must be increased, so that the region could attract investments and a common regional economy could be built, which would have a high degree of mobility and employment.

SEE 2020 Strategy Implementation Shows Mixed Results in Past Year

The RCC Governing Board also heard the Annual Report on the South East Europe 2020 Strategy's implementation at its third meeting on Monday, the RCC reported.

In the past year, the RCC has focused on integrating the lessons learned into key building blocks for the upcoming Strategy and Work Programme for 2017-2019 (SWP 17-19). It focuses on an exchange of regional practices, emphasizing the areas in which RCC-supported activities can generate tangible and durable impact. Primarily by supporting intergovernmental negotiation processes resulting in multilateral legal instruments for the three flagship areas: skills and mobility, connectivity, and competitiveness.

Opening the meeting, Svilanovic said that the region has completed this annual cycle with mixed results, ranging from exceeding the goals in some areas, such as balancing trade, to half-way reached targets in other fields, like attracting direct foreign investment and enhancing the educational profile of the labour force.

Svilanovic also pointed out to the areas where the results are less than satisfactory. "Progress, when it comes to growth, convergence with the EU, trade expansion and employment, as the key underlying targets of the Strategy, has been mediocre."

Speaking on behalf of the European Commission, Kjartan Bjornsson (Deputy Head of Unit for Western Balkans Regional Cooperation and Programmes of the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations), praised the efforts of the RCC and emphasized that the acceptance of the Western Balkans by the EU will not be achieved unless and until EU member states realise "that this is also a region of opportunities, a region which has potential, not just as a bag of liabilities". Structural reforms are crucial on the way forward, said Bjornsson, "but it is not enough to identify them, we need implementation as well".

The SEE 2020 is a joint strategy for the economic development of 7 economies in SEE (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia). It has focused the work of the RCC and regional cooperation in SEE as a whole towards strengthening economic growth and supporting and streamlining the EU integration process of the EU aspirants from the region. The Strategy was agreed upon in 2013 by the regional governments with the support of the RCC.

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The Bulgarian Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Agency's Executive Director, Marieta Zaharieva, will open an international economic forum held as part of Bulgaria ending its SEECP Chairmanship, said the Agency. The event will take place on June 1 at the Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (BCCI). The forum is organized by the BCCI and Zaharieva's Agency under the auspices of President Rosen Plevneliev. Companies from SE Europe that seek to establish partnerships will participate.