Substantial progress was reported on the Pact's core objectives for the year 2003 at the ministerial-level Regional Table, 27 May 2003 in Du-brovnik, held for the first time in conjunction with the three Working Tables of the Pact (26 May). Of particular note are improvements in cross bor-der co-operation, with new Euroregional co-operation put in place. In the field of media development, new broadcast laws in line with EU standards have been adopted in several countries since the beginning of the year. The network of bilateral free trade agreements was completed in February 2003 and further progress made towards creating a regional electricity market and developing a regional approach to transport infrastructure, as well as improving the investment climate. The Regional Table welcomed efforts to assist SEE countries to improve border security and man-agement, as set in motion in Ohrid the previous week, as an important follow up to the London Conference against organised crime of November 2002.

Special Co-ordinator Erhard Busek underlined that regional co-operation has significantly improved and is yielding benefits to SEE, while at the same time complementing the Accession as well as the Stabilisation and Association Processes of the European Union. Also noted were the ongoing efforts of the Stability Pact to involve Kosovo in a number of important regional initiatives in line with UNSC Resolution 1244.

As living proof of the much-increased regional co-operation, a ministerial meeting accompanied the Regional Table. It was hosted by Croatian Foreign Minister Tonino Picula. The President of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, and Romanian President Ion Iliescu on state visit to Croatia, arrived to ex-press their support to the Stability Pact and attended a part of the conference. Romanian Minister of Transport, Miron Mitrea, and Foreign Ministers of Romania, Mircea Geoana, of Montenegro, Dragisa Burzan, and of Slovenia, Dimitrij Rupel attended along with Bosnia-Herzegovina Foreign Minister Mladen Ivanic, presently holding the Presidency of South East European Co-operation Process (SEECP).
http://www.stabilitypact.org/doc/regionaltable/032chairmansconclusionsatrt.doc

The Regional Table also approved Elisabeth Rehn of Finland as new chair of the Democratisation and Human Rights Working Table. Ms. Rehn has been acting chair for four months and succeeded Alexander Rondos of Greece, whose dedicated work for the Stability Pact was praised by Erhard Busek.

A declaration of principles regarding border management, the so-called "Common Platform", was endorsed 22 May 2003 in Ohrid at a conference of Heads of Governments and Ministers hosted by the Macedonian Government (PM Crvenkovski) and supported by NATO (Secretary General Robertson), EU (Director Priebe), OSCE (Secretary General Kubis) and the Stability Pact (SC Busek). The Western Balkans have committed themselves to further reforms in order to establish open but secure borders. They will follow EU standards on border management and will enjoy the support of international organisations for their efforts. On the following day, participants elaborated the technical details of the action plan (Way Forward Document).

The Ohrid Conference on Border Security and Management. An important first step to a regional approach on border issues.
The Ohrid conference marked an important follow up to the London Conference on Fighting Organised Crime and aimed to contribute to the upcoming EU-Western Balkans Summit in Thessaloniki.
See http://www.stabilitypact.org/ohridindex.htm for details.

This year's SEECP Summit in Belgrade 9 April 2003 saw the handover of the Presidency from Serbia and Montenegro to Bosnia-Herzegovina, who will hold this position until April 2004. The SEECP is a close regional partner of the Stability Pact.

The four ministerial conferences held during the Serbia and Montenegro presidency provided additional political underpinning for Stability Pact ac-tivities. Another important function was the role of the SEECP as the co-ordinated voice of South-eastern Europe in the Brussels based Informal Consultative Committee (ICC), which comprises SEECP, the EU Council, the EU Commission and the Stability Pact. Serbia & Montenegro was the first SEECP Presidency to fulfil this function. The consultation mechanism established between SEECP partners to that end proved a very useful communication link for other questions of regional co-operation as well. SC Busek whole-heartedly encouraged Bosnia-Herzegovina to continue this approach.

On 5 May in Vienna, at the invitation of Austrian Foreign Minister Benita Ferrero-Waldner and Special Co-ordinator Erhard Busek, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia discussed their ongoing and planed support activities to the Western Balkans, ahead of their EU membership. Technical assistance, the transformation experience from planned to market econ-omy and the priceless experience of accession ne-gotiations with the EU were mentioned as optimal areas for experience transfer.

As the five countries convened for the first time in this format, they were strongly commended by Special Co-ordinator Busek for their advance planning. Although becoming an EU member obliges them to develop a foreign assistance pro-gramme, it became clear in Vienna that the five have already engaged on this path ahead of their expected EU entry May 2004.

The five transition countries all announced plans to compile medium term foreign assistance pack-ages, with up to 5 years duration. At the meeting, the European Commission outlined that the experiences, which the five have gone through, are of a very similar type to what Western Balkan countries are or will be conducting in the framework of the SAA process.

The WT I meeting and the RT endorsed the Rec-onciliation Initiative as a new initiative that includes components falling under existing SP Task Forces. The meetings also endorsed the structure proposed by the new Chairperson of WTI Elisabeth Rehn: In future, the so-called "Reconciliation Steering Group" (RSG) which is open to all SP-partners, will steer the overall work of the initia-tive, specifically focusing on the necessary polit-cal steps needed for fostering reconciliation in the SEE region. Based on the recommendations for governments issued at the April Thessaloniki Workshop, the RSG will develop an agenda for pushing forward each prioritised action item. The first meeting of the RSG is expected in September. As regards concrete activities and projects, a "Reconciliation Action Group" consisting of WT I Task Force Chairs and key donors, will develop a detailed action plan for relevant recommendations in the relevant thematic areas, with the aim of identifying funding sources and project imple-menting agencies.

Thessaloniki Workshop led the Way

The creation of an Internet forum and the es-tablishment of a core group of interested donors to co-ordinate some of the ongoing reconciliation activities in Southeast Europe was the prelude to the workshop in Thessaloniki 3 - 6 April 2003.
Six topical priorities were identified as crucial to the active promotion of reconciliation in SEE, across borders as well as within the respective societies: education & youth, media, human rights & justice, gender, consensus building activities, such as interreligious dialogue or arts & culture.

The Thessaloniki workshop agreed on a set of recommendations to governments, which was complemented by a similar list of suggested activities for civil society. One prominent activity will be to raise awareness and actively promote public acknowledgments of past injustices by eminent individuals and governments of countries involved in hostilities. Notably, the participants supported an initiative that highlights and commemorates the thousands of acts of goodness across the ethnic divide that occurred during the wars of the 1990s. Awareness of such activities counter-acts the prevailing negative stereotypes of "the other" within the region, and also helps to deconstruct the negative image of the Balkans that exists outside of the region.

More than sixty leaders and activists of the NGO community from the Western Balkans and some thirty guests from the International Community participated in this important workshop.

The Media Task Force is well on track to meet the achievables for 2003. After consultations with Media Working Groups in SEE, twenty projects were selected and submitted to donors. Support has been pledged to approximately 80% of these projects for a total amount of around € 2 million. These projects will result in improved media legislation, training for journalists provided by local institutions, regional cooperation in news-exchanges and cross-border production of quality television programs.

The Media Task Force also prepared an over-view* of all financial support provided to the me-dia in SEE, listing activities of countries and or-ganisations. The data shows that 40% of all fi-nancial support for media development goes to training, followed by 34% for direct support to in-dividual outlets and 26% for association building, media legislation and others activities. It also re-veals that the media in Serbia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo are the main recipients. The media in Macedonia and Montenegro receive less support, whereas least assistance is provided to the media in Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova and Albania. The Media Task Force noted that, given the analysis of the situation of the media in vari-ous reports, this division does not always correlate with the problems faced by the media in the re-spective countries.

In 2003, the Media Task Force initiated the draft-ing of several laws (broadcast law in Macedonia, access to information law in Montenegro) and worked with various organisations to improve im-plementation. Several television productions have started and will, according to plan, be aired begin-ning of 2004.

A conference of women members of parliaments under the topic 'From Victims to Agents of Change' was held in Budva, Montenegro, 9-11 May 2003. In recent years, the Conference of Presidents of SEECP Parliaments has consistently called for the creation of a regional parliamentary structure and the participants at the conference in Budva strongly supported the idea.

The aim of such regional structures is to provide opportunities to exchange experiences and practical knowledge on the parliamentary involvement in the integration process through meetings of members of parliaments and parliamentary staff of the countries concerned. In view of future EU in-tegration of SEE countries, the Pact has supported parliamentary co-operation in the region from its early stages. The Stability Pact itself has a par-liamentary dimension in the form of a Troika (European Parliament, OSCE and Council of Europe Parliamentary Assemblies) since June 2001. SEECP includes one EU member state and three candidate countries.

Special Co-ordinator Busek and WT I Chair Elisabeth Rehn co-chaired the first meeting of the Steering Committee on LODE/CBC, which was held in Brussels on 16 April. The purpose of the meeting was to bring together Stability Pact partner countries, including the region, implementing agencies, international organisations and founda-tions in order to agree on priorities in LODE/CBC and how the SP can work with its partners to meet those priorities.

The Steering Committee agreed that the SP should focus on three key functional areas: co-ordination / facilitation; the support and development of Eu-roregions in SEE; and empowering local authori-ties through the support of twinning and training activities.
The Steering Committee also accepted the pro-posal from Hungary to have Deputy Mayor of Szeged Joszef Kozma chair the group. This provides a useful link to the Szeged Process and it gives the soon to be new EU member Hungary a leading role in supporting the local democratisation process in SEE. It was also agreed that the Steering Committee should meet twice a year and that it will serve as the SP's main decision making/priority setting body for LODE/CBC. The next meeting of the Steering Committee will be in the fall.
More on LODE or contact details

In Montenegro, the first governmental gender equality mechanism was established with the sup-port of Prime Minister Djukanovic in February 2003. Its program consists of researching the position of women in the Montenegro society, initi-ating the collection of gender-segregated statistics and co-ordinating all gender equality activities in the country. Support from Italy was vital.

After co-ordinated lobbying by the OSCE Mission in Belgrade, Star Network for World Learning in Belgrade, the Commission for Gender Equality on the level of the Federal Government and other crucial partners of Gender Task Force, the Serbian Government established the first governmental gender equality mechanism in February 2003. This new Interministerial Council for Gender Equality also includes representatives from academia and the civil society. In May 2003, the Serbian Parliament also established its first body for gender equality.

The main features of the two bodies are to mainstream gender equality in the legislative process and to insure implementation. Support from then Prime Minister Djindjic and Foreign Minister Svilanovic, to name but the most prominent ones, contributed to this success.

With Serbia and Montenegro joining the list of countries with gender equality provisions in their legislation, all SEE countries but Bulgaria have such mechanisms in place.

The Hungarian Ministry for Foreign Affairs, together with the Stability Pact, hosted the fifth Szeged Conference on 27-28 March. Participants of the conference welcomed the fact that the Stability Pact has made Local Democracy and Cross Border Co-operation one of its six core objectives for 2003. The Pact has recognised that local capacity building is a key element for effective cross border co-operation and in doing so, the Pact will seek to use the experiences of the Szeged Process in promoting its work in this field. Furthermore, the Pact values the contribution of the Szeged Process in promoting enhanced cross border co-operation through the support of Euroregions in South Eastern Europe.

Participants also welcomed that the Hungarian Government will continue to support training courses for local authorities in 2003. In addition to topics focused on local self-government, Euro-pean integration and human resource development, new themes will be introduced such as envi-ronmental protection, role of local government in economic development, institutional reform, ju-risdictional reform and the small-arms process.
The Conference brought together representatives of the four target countries of the Szeged Process (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, Ser-bia-Montenegro), the Stability Pact, the Council of Europe, leaders and experts of local authorities, jurisdiction, ministries dealing with trade devel-opment and liberalisation, public prosecutor of-fices, courts and economic chambers.

On March 14-15, 2003, over a hundred partici-pants, including Ministers, deputy Ministers and high level government officials, Mayors and Pre-fects, representatives of Chambers of Commerce, development agencies and the NGO sector met in Thessaloniki, Greece, alongside representatives of international organisations, for a two day confer-ence on 'Fostering Stability and Sustainable Development via Institutional Transfrontier Co-operation in the Lake Prespa / Ohrid Region'. The meeting was organised by the East West Institute (EWI), under the auspices of the Greek Ministry of Macedonia and Thrace, and with the support of the Stability Pact.
The conference represented a historically strong commitment to good-neighbourly relations and co-operation between the three countries con-cerned as well as a concrete step in achieving con-sensus on a common process to institutionalise transfrontier co-operation in the Prespa / Ohrid region.
The meeting resulted in the full endorsement of Euroregion elaboration in the Prespa / Ohrid area by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and of Mace-donia and Thrace of the Hellenic Republic, of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Local Self Government of the former Yugoslav Republic of Ma-cedonia, and of the Ministry of Local Government and Decentralisation of the Republic of Albania. Furthermore, mayors and prefects, as well as non-governmental actors represented at the conference made a commitment to work towards the establishment of a Prespa / Ohrid Euroregion, including the joint adoption of an action plan.

The Business Advisory Council for South Eastern Europe met for the first time as a merged body on 19 March in Sarajevo. BAC members agreed that they would focus on the following priority themes: infrastructure projects, implementation of the free trade agreements, fight against corruption and functioning judiciary, and SME development.

Prior to the BAC meeting, members participated in a Round Table discussion with key officials of the Bosnian Government (Federal Prime Minister, Minister for Foreign Trade, Minister of Finance). The Head of the Foreign Investment Promotion Agency and the Deputy Head of the OHR Eco-nomics Department also joined the debate. According to the BAC, BiH needs to focus on in-vestment and infrastructure, especially Corridor 5c. Weak central government is one of the greatest obstacles to development. BiH must also focus on creating a single economic space if it is serious about stimulating trade attracting foreign investment. Other priorities include creating a single customs system, introducing the VAT and pri-vatisation.

The next meeting of the BAC will be held on 24-25 June in Rome and will focus primarily on is-sues pertaining to infrastructure and trade. It will also include a presentation on investment oppor-tunities in SEE for the Italian business commu-nity.

The Stability Pact's Working Group on Trade Liberalisation and Facilitation met in Dubrovnik on May 23. The meeting endorsed the appointment of Ms Adriana Civici of the Albanian Ministry of Economy as the new chair of the SP Trade Working Group. Ms. Civici, who has been a member of the Group since its inception in 2000, is re-sponsible for all foreign trade agreements concluded by Albania. The meeting also paid tribute to the Ministry of Economy of Macedonia, which has chaired the Group since its establishment.

The SEE countries reported good progress on the ratification of the various bilateral Free Trade Agreements negotiated in accordance with the MoU on Trade. Twelve agreements are currently in force and the vast majority should be in force by July. Following the constitutional changes in Serbia and Montenegro, the ratification process has been somewhat delayed and all sides have urged the relevant authorities to expedite this process.
The Trade Working Group will now focus its at-tention on the full and efficient implementation of the FTAs and tackling issues such as non-tariff barriers. The importance of continued political, technical and financial assistance from the international community was emphasised by all. The meeting was kindly hosted by the Croatian Ministry of Economy.

Energy Update - Athens Process

SP and European Commission continue to co-operate with SEE countries towards the estab-lishment of a regional electricity market (REM) by 2005 and its integration into the EU internal electricity market. Since the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding in Athens (15th November 2002) by energy ministers of the re-gion, this became known as the Athens process. Croatia, which had not signed the MoU in November, signed it in February 2003, becoming a full-fledged party. Italy has also become a full-fledged party, while Austria joined as an observer.

Rome Energy Week
The EU Commission and the SP organised the SEE energy week, hosted by the Italian Government in Rome on 24-27 March 2003. This consisted of a series of meetings of the differ-ent governing and co-ordination bodies estab-lished within the Athens process. In this context, the Permanent High Level Group asked the European Commission to extend the scope of the MoU to all energy issues. The objective is that the revised and broader MoU would, once agreed, be signed in Athens later in 2003. It would cover electricity, gas and all the steps required to allow the SEE countries to enjoy the benefits of the EU internal energy market.

First Meeting on Senior Political Advisors to SEE Governments
To ensure that SEE governments participating in the Athens process are fully briefed, a high level meeting of energy advisers to SEE Prime Ministers was held in Vienna on 3rd June 2003. The purpose of the meeting was to review progress and to assess the challenges the political and the legal implications involved in establishing a regional energy market in SEE. In particular, a number of options were reviewed to give a firmer legal basis to this market, ensuring greater security for trade and investment.

Miet Smet has been appointed Co-chair of the Social Cohesion Initiative. She takes over from Olivier Villey (French Ministry of Employment and Solidarity). A Minister of State and a former Minister of Employment and Labour in the Belgian Government from 1992-1999, Ms. Smet is currently Member of the European Parliament for Belgium.

The objective of the Initiative for Social Cohesion (ISC), which was founded in 2000, is to address social issues that affect the daily lives of citizens in the countries of South Eastern Europe (SEE), with a particular attention to the most vulnerable groups, emphasising a regional approach while prioritising the strengthening of institutions and enhancing access to social rights and social dialogue.

The Initiative is co-chaired by Jela Bacovic, Di-rector of Multilateral and Regional Co-operation, Ministry for International Economic Relations of Serbia and Montenegro.

Ms. Smet's candidature was presented by Anna Diamantopoulou, Member of the European Commission responsible for Employment and Social Affairs, and has received the support of the Bel-gian Government. The Swiss Government has pledged initial logistical support.

The appointment of the Minister of Economy, Mr. Ilija Filipovski, as Country Economic Team Leader to the Investment Compact is a signal of strong government commitment to the reform process. The new Country Economic Team (CET) in Macedonia has been established with strong representation from relevant Ministries and the private sector. The new team has a key role in helping to advance reform. While responsibility for reform lies with government respective minis-tries / agencies, the CET should highlight where reforms are not addressed or where further im-provements can be made. Through its members, it should instigate dialogue and action where necessary.

Macedonia is the only country in the region that does not have a dedicated agency to attract and fa-cilitate FDI. It is hoped to establish such an agency and support from UNDP, World Bank and other organisations is forthcoming to facilitate this. The Investment Compact is also ready to as-sist the Ministry of Economy in the establishment of an Investment Promotion Agency by providing inputs or policy, best practice and experience sharing based on the gained knowledge from other such agencies in OECD and SEE countries. Or-ganisations such as ITDH/Czech or IDA Ireland were mentioned in this context.

The Macedonian Government informed the mis-sion about its approach to tackle corruption and organised crime. The role of the Anti-corruption Commission elected by parliament was seen as crucial. The Investment Compact also offered its support in establishing a Foreign Investor Council in co-operation with foreign investors, similar to what has been done in other SEE countries.

Ahead of the Ministerial Conference on Attracting Investments in SEE in Vienna on 11 July, a new edition of the Monitoring Instruments (country by country review on investment improvements) has been released. A dynamic impetus to the meeting will be provided by a business forum on 10 July with the Ministers of Economy / Trade from the region that will precede the Ministerial Confer-ence. The next regular Investment Compact Project Team meeting takes place in Paris on 23 May where the Monitoring Instruments was discussed.

On 7 May, a new SPOC Board was created by merging two existing bodies, the Regional Steer-ing Group and the Advisory & Contact Group, which are both composed of SEE representatives alongside their colleagues from EU countries and institutions and the international community at large. This move will speed up communication. In addition, the Board elected the head of the department of international law enforcement co-operation of the Austrian Federal Ministry of the Interior, Christian Jechoutek, to chair the board. In the future, the board members will form small working groups focusing on selected legislative or operational issues. In parallel, the SPOC Execu-tive Secretariat, headed by Gabriela Konevska, has become operational, and is co-located with the Regional for Combating Trans-border Crime in Bucharest. This arrangement is designed to en-sure enhanced co-operation between two regional crime-fighting programmes.

The initial focus of SPOC activities will be to harmonise the data and witness protection regimes in SEE. Besides the immediate benefits for the local judiciary, this project aims to pave the way for future data processing between the region and European institutions. Establishing a joint re-gional position on data protection will be on the agenda of a ministerial meeting of the South East-ern European Co-operation Process (SEECP) 18 June in Sarajevo.

The need to develop a coherent regional and bi-lateral information exchange mechanism, focus-sing initially on data related to property and social benefits, had been identified as being of utmost importance by the "Regional Return Initiative". It is seen as a precondition for the implementation of durable solutions for the remaining approximately one million displaced in the region.

The respective Governments repeatedly stated their concern that property and social benefits related information, albeit contained in numerous databases, needed to be exchanged and consolidated between the states in order to streamline and better plan refugee assistance to those genuinely entitled to it. This would reduce the incidents of "double benefits" and allow identifying and targeting the beneficiaries in need.
The ultimate goal of the project in the context of the "Migration Asylum and Refugee Regional Ini-tiative" (MARRI) is to establish national and re-gional capacity for the safe handling of data related to the management and stabilisation of popu-lation movements at large.

With start-up funding received from Norway and Switzerland, the Regional Information Exchange project team has been recruited to facilitate, initi-ate and monitor the existing national and regional activities. This is done in support of governments and international organisations and in view of establishing the necessary conditions for data exchange, according to international standards.

The meeting, of the Regional Disaster Prepared-ness and Prevention Initiative 23-25 March 2003, hosted by the Moldovan State Department of Emergency Situations and opened by Deputy Spe-cial Co-ordinator John Riddle, learnt about pro-gress on two projects, whose implementation is well under way.

• A report by Slovenia on Disaster Management Training for SEE in 2002. The project lasts 4 years. So far, six training events were con-ducted, hosted by three countries (Croatia, Romania, Slovenia) with 235 participants. The added value lies in acquiring new knowl-edge, exchange of experiences, and networking. Particular attention is being paid to en-sure that only qualified people get this addi-tional training. For 2003, the lead country for this project is Croatia and there are 17 training events planned to be conducted. It was pointed out, that this project is a good example of regional ownership in co-operation with international organisations.
  
  
• The project to install a joint tri-national fire-fighting unit of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia and Montenegro will be realised by autumn this year. Eight fire-fighting teams from the three neighbouring countries will be trained, equipped and ready to fight open fires jointly in the region. Joint exercises are planned to ensure the success of the project.
  For more, click: http://www.stabilitypact.org/stabilitypactcgi/catalog/cat_descr.cgi?subcat=1&prod_id=48
  
  

Moldova is the latest of the Stability Pact recipient countries to join the Zagreb-based RACVIAC as an observer. At the 9 March Multinational Advi-sory Group meeting in Ljubljana, Moldova's re-quest to join RACVIAC. Moldova will have one year to become full member of RACVIAC, a timeline expected to be met rather sooner than later.

RACVIAC was established in Zagreb in October 2000 to assist countries of the region to fully comply with their international obligations in arms control. Since then, it has established itself as confidence building institution in the region. The Centre organises seminars in arms control subjects and also holds training courses for the experts of the regional countries. RACVIAC has also been holding seminars in related security sector subjects like small arms and light weapons, se-curity sector reform and disaster preparedness. The Website of the Centre is http://www.racviac.org

On the margins of the fifth Stability Pact Task Force on Trafficking in Human Beings Meeting in Portorož, Slovenia (28 March 2003), the Task Force chaired a two-day Working Group Meeting on victim/witness protection. Experts from the Council of Europe, OSCE / Secretariat / ODIHR / selected Missions, SPOC, White Ring, Anti-Slavery-International, SECI Regional Centre and IOM participated and discussed steps of implementation and effective strategies for a harmonised handling of the protection of trafficking vic-tims who are willing to give testimony as witnesses.

A lack of adequate victim and witness protection programmes results in reduced efficiency of investigation, prosecution and court proceedings. Governments very often see the battle against illegal immigration, often effected by smugglers, as their principal priority. Therefore, victims of traf-ficking run the risk of being treated as illegal immigrants and of being immediately deported to their home countries, or ill-treated and put into jail or detention centres.

Authorities still treat trafficking victims as criminals instead of going after the true criminals - the traffickers and their collaborators. Although at-tention at the political level has increased recently, only a few states have come to see it as their responsibility to protect individuals from trafficking and to provide effective assistance and remedies to victims. "When we look into the practice of many European countries, it becomes quite obvi-ous that the protection of the victims of trafficking and of their rights takes second place to the pro-motion of state interests", said Helga Konrad, Chair of the Stability Pact Task Force.

She called upon the governments - not only in Southeastern Europe but also in the European Union and beyond - to switch from an exclusive law-enforcement approach to a victim-centred one. Not merely because it would in any case be the task of states and governments to protect the fun-damental rights of individuals, but also in the in-terest of combating organised crime, which is considered the main security issue by all govern-ments - in SEE, in the EU and elsewhere.

The experts at the Working Group Meeting identi-fied essential steps. The outcome document "Special Protection Measures for Trafficking Victims Acting as Witnesses" is available on the SPTF website: http://www.stabiltypact.org/antitraffickingtaskforce

The housing sector in Southeastern Europe (SEE) is vital for growth, job creation and coherent so-cial and economic development. It poses, how-ever, several policy challenges which were dis-cussed at a conference of SEE Ministers in charge of housing and finance met in Paris 24 April 2003 at a High-level housing conference. The follow-ing issues were addressed:

• Poor housing maintenance and management (low incomes limit the ability of households to properly maintain the property
  
• Social and refugee related housing (policy makers in the region are challenged to make good use of social housing as an instrument to support socially weaker and vulnerable groups in countries where poverty is widespread)
  
• Economic and financial challenges (lacking an efficient supply of services and/or financial in-struments, housing in SEE does not contribute to economic growth, employment, and income generation as it could do)
  

The meeting was organised by the Council of Europe Development Bank and the World Bank under the auspices of the Stability Pact.

7 May 2003, RACVIAC (The Regional Arms Control Verification and Implementation Assis-tance Centre) and SEESAC (South Eastern Europe Clearinghouse for Control of Small Arms and Light Weapons) formally signed a Memoran-dum of Understanding (MOU). The signing took place in the margins of RACVIAC's Seminar on "SALW - A year after implementation of the Sta-bility Pact's Plan" by Brigadier General Johann Pucher, Director RACVIAC and Adrian Wilkin-son, Team Leader SEESAC.
This MOU aims to establish effective co-operation between the two organisations, with a view to enhancing international efforts for reduc-ing small arms and light weapons proliferation and potential for violence, including illegal traf-ficking of weapons. This co-operation between RACVIAC and SEESAC is to provide a forum for regional dialogue and co-operation in the field of small arms and light weapons. The fields of co-operation will be:
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• Information Exchange;
  
• Public awareness and promotion of dialogue;
  
• Regional seminars, workshops and training;
  
• Capacity building; and
  
• Regional harmonisation of legislation including arms export legislation and implementation mechanisms.
  
  

The Netherlands-based Association of European Police Colleges invited the SEE police academies to join their association and outlined the necessary procedures to be followed at the Working Ta-ble III in Cavtat. Participants took note that the Croatian Police Academy will apply shortly. Within the Police Forum and as a follow-up to the London Conference, a new initiative was proposed by Austria, Switzerland and Norway, namely to create a network of organised crime police investigators (OCTN) with specialised train-ing modules to be conducted on roaming basis. In order to avoid any duplication, this new initiative will use existing structures of the Police Forum initiative and of the Southeast European Police Chiefs Association (SEPCA). The process remains open to and invites other donors. SPOC will also promote OCTN within the SEE region and interlink with its activities.

The regional SPAI office is to be established in Sarajevo and will be initially composed of two experts with administrative support. Facilities will be ready, according to the BiH SPAI High Representative, by June 30, and the office should be operational by autumn 2003, thus enhancing regional ownership. Regarding the work plan for the near future, on a short-term basis 11 specific projects with relevant funding have been identified for 2003 and implementation has already be-gan. Over the longer term, the definition of SPAI's strategic role and its added value in a rapidly changing environment is being defined, en-compassing national and regional strategies to fight corruption.

Rob Zeldenrust, Director of Working Table I, has left the Stability Pact end of May and will work for the Dutch Permanent Representation in Brussels. Deputy Special Co-ordinator John Riddle will be interim "Acting Director" of WT I.
Yannick Dumas (WT I) will leave the SP end of June after 1,5 year and is succeeded by Marco Antonio Mora Diaz who has joined WT I as an Assistant on 26 May.
Gabriele Martignago, who has been working on the "Sava Basin Initiative" under Working Table II, has left the SP in May and is now again working for the Italian Government in Sa-rajevo.
Peter Houzer has joined WT II, as a Swiss seconded expert in the field of "energy".
Paolo Borgna and Velvet de Santa (both Working Table III assigned) have left the SP be-ginning of March.
Adrienne Lynch has joined WT III as secretary.
Sebastian Von Münchow has joined WT III, as a German seconded expert for combating "Organised crime" (SPOC initiative).
Susann Weissel (Personal Assistant to SC Busek) has left the Pact in May.