Dear Presidents, Prime Ministers, Ministers, friends of the region, ladies and gentlemen.

It is a great pleasure for me to join you here at the SEECP Summit in Thessaloniki and to speak to you about a promising, indeed compelling vision of the future for the region, which I have outlined to your Foreign Ministers in more detail yesterday.

It is my firm belief that, today in May 2006, the region enjoys a unique opportunity to build on the success of the Stability Pact and to take ownership of a program of sustained regional co-operation focused on key priorities. 

This vision for the future is clearly taking shape. Your governments, as represented by your Stability Pact National Co-ordinators have endorsed priorities for continued co-operation in the future.

These priorities represent a coherent and essential program to promote the region’s economic and political development and the region’s EU and Euro-Atlantic integration agenda.

The common regional economic strategy that has emerged under the umbrella of Stability Pact relies on several pillars.  All enjoy clear momentum and perspective because of the support of the Stability Pact and key donors and the political commitment of regional governments.  They are built on the recent respective EC communication and are also fully in line with the non-paper developed by the Pact together with the European Commission on the basis of the Senior Review Group report, available to all of you.

Let me highlight the key points:

• Enhancing economic development through Regional Free Trade, complemented by a common investment framework with the aim to attract further direct investment in the region.
• Regional Infrastructure and in particular Regional Energy, as well as fostering the positive impact of information technology in the region.
• Combating Corruption and Organised Crime -  While clearly a political and security concern, success against corruption and organised crime is critical to improving business conditions and the region’s future economic prospects and to enhancing the region’s credibility with a critical EU public opinion in this regard.
• Security Co-operation - Defence conversion and security sector reform still are of high importance in a region as South Eastern Europe, with direct and indirect implications for the economic development.
• Building Human Capital - This aspect will be of growing importance in the years to come for the development of the region.

The discussions in the past months on regional cooperation priorities have started from the premise that you, the South East European countries yourselves, are the key factor in this debate. Your decisions today and in the coming months can establish a renewed basis for carrying such co-operation forward.

The Stability Pact and the European Commission have proposed the creation of a Regional Co-operation Council and regionally-staffed secretariat, chaired by a Secretary General from the region designated by SEECP, to lead the regional co-operation agenda. 

The first and foremost aim of this proposal is to enhance regional ownership. The situation we see in front of us in South Eastern Europe today is drastically different from 1999 and this requires a different approach as well.

At the same time, it remains important to show that the two processes – regional co-operation and European integration – are intrinsically linked. Successful and practical regional cooperation is a prerequisite – and not a replacement  - of the EU integration perspective, which is clearly defined in the Thessaloniki Agenda and which was re-affirmed despite EU-internal discussions at the Salzburg meeting under the Austrian EU Presidency.

Similarly, keeping the donor community involved remains a priority for all of us. While the region is indeed now at a stage where it can take on more ownership, support – politically and financially – by the European Commission, EU member states, such important partners as the US, Switzerland, Norway or Japan as well as the International Financial Institutions - remains crucial for years to come.

Finally, this proposal aims at preserving the quality of regional co-operation processes achieved in recent years. The proposal thus foresees a phased evolution of the current Stability Pact into a more streamlined and effective regional co-operation framework in which the SEECP, if successfully strengthened, could play a central role.

The Regional Co-operation Council, or RCC, open to all partners active in South Eastern Europe, would co-ordinate regional co-operation processes to provide guidance to the Secretariat and the Secretary General and to support and prepare – as appropriate – SEECP Ministerial meetings and Summits. 

The Secretary General should be a strong political figure from the region whose task would also be to support the rotating SEECP Chairmanship.

To implement this vision, I would offer an ambitious but achievable timetable. 

In the Stability Pact, we would – together with your National Coordinators - elaborate and implement individual and clear strategies for each SP Task Force and Initiative to be completed by the end of 2007. This will require your engagement and support!

There should be, at the Belgrade Regional Table at the end of this month, an initial funding commitment by Stability Pact donors and all regional countries for the 2007 transition strategy and for a lean Regional Co-operation Council secretariat. A more detailed commitment to co-financing for the RCC secretariat will be necessary by the Regional Table in November 2006.

There would be a need for a SEECP decision on its relation to the Regional Co-operation Council and its secretariat, including the designation of a Secretary General from the region, at the latest by the SEECP Summit in May next year. This will be a major challenge for the Croatian Chairmanship and we of course stand ready to work closely with you along the way. The new RCC should be then in place by February 2008. 

Let me add that a presence of the region in Brussels – building upon the assets of the current secretariat of the Pact - will in my view be crucial for sustaining a close link between regional cooperation and EU and NATO integration perspectives. Which form such a presence would take, is however entirely up to you to decide.

The decisions we need to take at the Belgrade Regional Table on 30 May and the Croatian SEECP Chairmanship are thus going to be crucial for deciding about the future of regional cooperation in South Eastern Europe. I count on your support and engagement in the decision-making process ahead of us in the next few months.

Thank you for your attention.