At its Tirana meeting, the Stability Pact’s highest decision-making body (Regional Table), which acts as the general assembly of all Stability Pact Partners, has today approved the working program for the year 2004.  The Stability Pact will be a vital instrument for implementing the results of the Thessaloniki EU/Western Balkans Summit of June 2003 in the six core objectives of media development, local democracy (Euroregions), infrastructure, including energy, trade promotion, including free trade, fighting organised crime and dealing with issues in the domain of asylum, legal and illegal migration as well as refugees (MARRI).

As a special focus, the Office of the Stability Pact Office was called upon to make a particular effort in the domain of business promotion.   The Regional Table noted with satisfaction that the overall economic development has made good progress and the Stability Pact activities regarding the establishment of free trade and a regional energy market continue to contribute considerably to making SEE a more attractive destination for investors.  Even if growth rates in SEE are higher than elsewhere in Europe, albeit from a low level and not in all countries at the same magnitude, more efforts are needed to foster economic development.  Given these outsets, business promotion, reforms in business legislation, including increasing awareness for investment opportunities have become paramount.  The instruments at hand within the Pact’s framework such as the Investment Compact, the Business Advisory Council, electronic Southeast Europe and the Social Cohesion Initiative will have to play their part in this active effort to push business.  Fostering local cross-border business is also part of the “Euroregions”-activities of Working Table I and will give additional momentum.  

In this context, there are still many reforms to be undertaken.  The necessary reforms to this end need the active involvement and the understanding of the region’s parliaments.  The Working Table on Democratization and Human Rights will increasingly foster parliamentary co-operation with increased networking and training of parliamentary staff.  Decentralisation will be another focus of this Working Table, which will benefit local activities in many fields, including the Pact’s core objectives.  It was also emphasised, that the experience of the new EU member states, which have undergone a very similar transformation process, that SEE countries have still ahead of them, should be made available in this context.

As a follow up to the London Conference against Organised Crime (November 2002) and the combined EU/Western Balkans Ministerial Conference on the same topic of 28 November 2003 in Brussels, have given the political underpinning for the continuation of the regionally co-ordinated efforts of fight organised crime by using the various instruments within the Stability Pact.  These include in practical terms fighting the trafficking in human beings, small arms collection with a regional centre in Belgrade (together with UNDP), combating corruption, including a regional centre in Sarajevo.  The Pact also runs an initiative to fight organised crime, its secretariat being co-located with the Regional Transborder Crime Fighting Centre in Bucharest.  The Stability Pact has also launched an Initiative to tackle the problem of car theft.  An Organised Crime Training Network with joint training structures for investigators has recently been established.

The conclusions of the Regional Table Chair Erhard Busek will become available at approximately 15:00, December 5, and will be posted on the webpage  http://www.stabilitypact.org/rt/031205-index.asp