The First and Second Steering Committee meetings for the EU-funded project “Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC)” took place in Sarajevo on 20- 22 February at the premises of Regional Cooperation Council (RCC).
The meeting was opened by Ms. Jelica Minić, RCC Deputy Secretary General, who welcomed the Delegation of the Central European Initiative and highlighted the importance of the project for strengthening the RCC and upgrading its role in the South East Europe region. CEI Alternate Secretary General, Mr. Giorgio Rosso Cicogna, underlined the fact that regional cooperation is a key requirement within the EU enlargement strategy in SEE, since it represents the main pre-requisite for stability and resolution of the open issues in the region. Promoting authentic and self-sustained regional ownership of this process by strengthening the role of the RCC Secretariat is a challenging commitment the CEI will carry out with enthusiasm, according to the mandate received by the European Commission. The project designed by the Central European Initiative, aims at making a concrete contribution to the regional cohesion in South-East Europe (SEE) and to the process of EU enlargement in the Western Balkans. The CEI will support the strengthening of the RCC Secretariat, through an active cooperation between the two organisations. The ultimate beneficiaries of this action will be the SEE countries, in particular the Western Balkans as well as Turkey and Moldova, as they are still facing significant challenges and are called to quickly pursue EU-related reforms to speed up the process on the path towards the EU. The project is financed by the European Union through the Instrument of Pre-Accession Assistance – Regional Programme 2010 and will last 24 months (December 2011 – December 2013). More information on the project on Improving Cooperation in South-East Europe by Actions for Strengthening the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC)