At the invitation of the Romanian authorities, this conference will be held in Bucharest on October 25-26, 2001 and will be co-chaired by the World Bank and the European Commission. It has been organised by both institutions with the Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact and the Romanian Government. Invitations letters have been sent to all Stability Pact participants on 9th August 2001.

Much has been achieved since the first Regional conference held last year in Brussels for promoting Stability Pact objectives, not only in terms of financing and implementing the quick start projects but also in terms of setting the priorities for the Stability Pact’s future work and in developing strategies under each of these priorities. Unlike last year’s conference which focused on the launch of a set of quick start projects and programs of a regional nature, the objective of this second Regional Conference, is to focus on the status of the various donor supported programs, on progress made in developing new strategies approved within the various Working Tables of the Stability Pact and on the process put into place by key actors to channel donor resources to the Stability Pact priority areas.

The Conference will take place over two days. Since the participation of Ministers would be welcome, the first day will provide delegates with an opportunity to reconfirm their political commitment to the overall framework of Stability Pact objectives. In this context the European Commission will provide a presentation of the Stabilisation and Association Process and the World Bank will provide a paper on the overall economic progress in the region since the inception of the Stability Pact. Beneficiary countries will be invited to reaffirm their commitment to regional co-operation and to explain how they intend to take it forward. The afternoon will address regional economic issues, development of regional infrastructure and trade. At the end of the afternoon and the beginning of the second day, a session will be devoted to the development of the private sector.

The second day of the conference which will be held at senior official level, will focus on the new Stability Pact WT1 and WT3 priorities agreed at the Regional table, the proposed funding allocation mechanism and the work program for 2002. In this session, the chairs of each of the both Working Tables of the Stability Pact will present an overview of their main objectives and the status of their detailed strategies. The Regional Conference will promote those projects consistent with strategies for which funding has been secured or is being finalised. This will also be an opportunity to review the criteria which will be used to select and approve projects to be supported in each of the Stability Pact priority areas.