STABILITY PACT TAKES "DECISIVE STEP FORWARD"; PRIORITY NOW IS TO MAKE REGIONAL FINANCING CONFERENCE "RESOUNDING SUCCESS"; "BILLIONS OF EUROS REQUIRED" - BODO HOMBACH IN ISTANBUL.
Bodo Hombach, Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe has presented his report on progress during the Pact's first months, on the occasion of the OSCE Summit in Istanbul, 18/19 November 1999. A key element of progress has been the agreement this week that a regional financing conference will be held in the first quarter of 2000. Following a meeting of more than 40 Stability Pact Foreign Ministers and high representatives of international organizations in Istanbul on 18 November, and as he prepared to address the OSCE Heads of State and Government on 19 November, Bodo Hombach said: "The Stability Pact has taken a decisive step forward with the decision on a financing conference. We have made excellent and rapid progress in the first months, putting the Stability Pact structures in place, agreeing on a detailed and comprehensive work plan, and bringing several initiatives of regional significance to an advanced stage of preparation. "Now we are entering a new phase, in which projects must become concrete reality. The financing conference will be central: my priority for the next months is to make it a resounding success. We owe it to our continent". Asked to name the required sum of money, Bodo Hombach said: "We clearly need billions of Euros to make this work, which it will. But let us be clear: this is not about handing out gifts. This is a process in which implementation of essential reforms is matched, step-by-step, with help for self-help. The precise sums required will emerge as the process of project evaluation advances further". Bodo Hombach's report details the holding of the first Regional Table meeting (16 September) - which agreed a comprehensive work plan - and first meetings of all three Working Tables (during October). It also explains key early results of the Pact. These include the Investment Compact: which contains firm commitments by the countries in south eastern Europe to improve their investment climate. This will be accompanied by a Business Advisory Council, composed of eminent business people, to monitor its implementation and give technical advice. Work is also well advanced on a broad-based anti-corruption package, as part of an overall approach to combating organized crime, in recognition of the crucial importance this has for the economic and social well-being of the countries concerned. In a division of labor between the international financial institutions (IFIs), coordinated work is taking place on prioritization and definition of the necessary infrastructure projects, under the lead of the European Investment Bank. Within a Regional Development Plan this will be accompanied by an Action Plan on Small and Medium Sized Enterprises. Preparations are also being taken forward for a range of actions in areas such as good governance, education, free media, and refugees. On the defense side, work is progressing well on confidence building measures, such as improved military to military contacts, as well as non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, control of arms sales and reduction of small arms. The Pact is reaching out to the democratic forces in Serbia, notably with the help of the Hungarian Government at a conference of Serbian opposition mayors in Szeged last month, and a follow-up Szeged Process which is to include direct aid through partnerships between towns inside and outside Serbia. The Pact has also signaled its support to Montenegro. Notes for editors The Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe was agreed in Cologne in June 1999, followed by a summit in Sarajevo in July. It represents the collective effort of the EU, the G 8, the countries of the region, and the key international organizations, to address the challenges of south eastern Europe in a coordinated and strategic manner. It draws strongly on the principles of the Helsinki Process, as shown in its structure of a Regional Table, directing three Working Tables (Human Rights and Democracy, Economic Reconstruction and Development, Security). As Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact, and Chairman of the South Eastern Europe Regional Table, Bodo Hombach has the task, on behalf of all the participants, to orchestrate the necessary action, to promote ideas and accelerate new activity where appropriate. This includes eliminating duplication of work, where it exists; and ensuring that new, supplementary action is taken, where it is required. The necessary financial resources are provided by the Stability Pact participants, including the IFIs, which are fully represented in the Pact, and on whose High Level Steering Group Bodo Hombach sits.