By Special Co-ordinator Erhard Busek at the Summit of the South East European Cooperation Process

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to share with you my perceptions on how we can best work together to turn into reality local ownership of regional initiatives and reform processes. Moving the region firmly on the road to membership in European and Euro Atlantic frameworks requires tangible progress in this regard, although we need to recognize that your countries have recently come a long way in a short period of time.

As I reported yesterday to your Foreign Ministers and earlier in the month to EU Foreign Ministers, the Stability Pact, as a mature operation, has entered a new phase that requires redirecting and refocusing of its actions.

I have thoroughly reviewed a large part of the activities undertaken in the framework of the Stability Pact. I have widely consulted with our main partners. Major findings and recommendations appear to have found wide support in the Stability Pact community, including EU and non-EU partners. They can be summarized as "fewer meetings, more action".

However, the strategic direction will remain the same: to lobby for Euro-Atlantic integration of SEE countries and to promote the necessary reforms along the way.

Against this background, the Stability Pact needs to concentrate on two related objectives: enhancement of the complementarity between the Stability Pact and the two main EU strategies towards the region, namely the Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP) and the accession process for candidate countries, and continued construction of cross-border cooperation in practical ways and means. The Stability Pact will continue to promote the objectives of these processes.

It is equally important for the Stability Pact to ensure the continued involvement of and co-ordination with non-EU partners. In particular, the Pact represents a framework for continued consultation and cooperation with the US, in the context of diminished US engagement in the Balkans due to new foreign policy priorities and tangible regional progress.

The EU has asked me to focus our operation on 5-6 priority objectives to be achieved within this year. On the other hand, many partners have stressed the need to continue ongoing work also in other important areas. We expect considerable progress and concrete results in many initiatives, but I want to highlight the following "achievables" which we have undertaken to accomplish over the course of this year. They build upon the strategies and priorities established by the Regional Table in June 2001:

• Trade and investment: completing the network of 21 bilateral FTAs that will de facto create a SEE free trade zone;

• Energy: establishment of a regional electricity market as an initial step;

• Provide sustainable solutions for at least 100,000 refugees and Displaced Persons by the end of 2002. Measures include increasing the level of return and integration assistance, accelerating the repossession of properties, creating jobs and other;

• Sub-Regional Dialogue: We wish to encourage a new sub-regional political process, endorsed by the SEECP, to be held under the auspices of the Stability Pact and supported by its Working Tables, on functional issues, e.g., energy cooperation. All parties interested should be allowed to participate;

• We intend to establish a "Regional Clearinghouse" for SALWs in Belgrade. We expect this initiative to develop and implement projects aimed at reducing the excess supply and illicit trafficking of SALW throughout the region;

• Organised crime: In an attempt to streamline ongoing initiatives to fight organised crime, we will establish a SPOC executive secretariat at the SECI Transborder Crime Center at Bucharest to be operational in the region.

Underpinning all of our efforts is the realization that viable solutions can only be achieved through enhanced local ownership. We will aim to transfer more and more of Stability Pact functions to you, through mechanisms such as the SEECP. Our goal is to associate your countries closer to the decision making process and so we will strive to develop closer links with the SEECP and encourage the incoming Chair to examine ways in which SEECP structures can be strengthened and enhanced. We want to see the SEECP as a coordinated voice of the region and a forum for regional cooperation between willing partners.

In that respect I appreciate the support you have demonstrated today in your conclusions for the incoming Chair to designate a Regional Representative to work alongside me and my team and ensure a clear and dedicated voice for regional priorities.

I look forward to our close co-operation in the year ahead!