Southeast European foreign ministers endorse RCC Annual Report

BUDVA/SARAJEVO, June 29 – Foreign Ministers of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) countries commended the work of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and its Secretary General at a meeting in Budva, Montenegro. They extended full support to the implementation of the Strategy and Work Programme 2011-2013 and endorsed the organization’s Annual Report 2010-2011. The ministers underlined the importance of regional cooperation and stressed that “it should become a way of life in Southeast Europe,” said Montenegrin Foreign Minister Milan Rocen. The foreign ministers pledged their countries’ continued participation in a wide range of RCC projects, in the fields of economic and social development, infrastructure, energy, security, justice and home affairs, culture and building of human capital. “The RCC has proven to be a valuable, regionally owned framework for cooperation, profiled by now as a key platform for guiding and monitoring cooperation in Southeast Europe,” said Hido Biscevic, RCC Secretary General. He stressed that EU accession goals need to be complemented by a common devotion to an accelerated economic development and social modernization. The RCC has initiated activities to assist regional initiatives in South East Europe associate themselves with the EU’s Europe 2020 Strategy. Biscevic congratulated Croatia on finalizing negotiations for the EU membership. “For all of the enlargement countries in the region this can only be taken as a proof that efforts pay off, thus inspiring vigorous efforts to meet the necessary requirements and make the best use of enlargement opportunities in the coming period. I am sure that this will in the end lead to our common goal – mapping the entire Southeast Europe within the EU, hence completing a Europe free, democratic and undivided.”