This conference, which is to be organized by the Association of Consulting Engineers of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ACE), the European Union Road Federation (ERF) and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat, under the auspices of the Ministry for Transport and Communications of Bosnia and Herzegovina, will be attended by representatives of relevant national institutions from South East Europe and several other EU countries involved in construction and management of road infrastructure and its safety control. 

The main objective of this international event is to provide a platform for knowledge and experience exchange on the Road Infrastructure Safety Management (EU’s Directive 2008/96) in all of its aspect and to encourage its implementation in the countries of South East Europe.

The Conference will tackle issues of road safety impact assessment, management, audit for infrastructure projects, and control for existing roads as well as for those still to be constructed.

This event, supported by the Regional Cooperation Council Secretariat, will outline how Energy Efficiency (EE) and Renewable Energy Sources (RES) can have a wider implementation in South East Europe (SEE) for the region to become more energy independent. The Congress is being organized under the auspices of the relevant Bulgarian Ministries, the Bulgarian Energy Efficiency Agency and the Sofia Municipality, with Germany as a strategic partner. The topics that the event will discuss include: energy efficiency, e-Mobility, RES electricity, RES heating& cooling, new trends, double and triple use, municipality energy independence – case studies, as well as a presentation of the new EE & RES Federation for South East Europe. More information on this event is available HERE.

On the occasion of the 2nd anniversary of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), the EU-Office of the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) is organizing FES Dialogue on Western Balkans, titled “Regional Cooperation Council two years after: building a long-term vision for the South East Europe”. Deputy RCC Secretary General, Jelica Minic, is to present her analysis of the achievements, shortcomings and further challenges for regional cooperation in the Western Balkans as well as the future projects for the RCC. Member of the European Parliament and Vice-Chairman of the S&D-group in the European Parliament, Hannes Swoboda, and Head of Unit for Enlargement Strategy at the European Commission’s DG Enlargement, Axel Wallden, will comment on her presentation and share with participants their long standing expertise on the region. The Agenda of the event is available HERE.

The second meeting of the Working Group of Education Reform Initiative of South East Europe (ERI SEE) is to take place under the auspices of the Regional Cooperation Council Secretariat. The purpose of the meeting is to produce an optional module for future functioning of the Initiative. Participants of the meeting will include representatives of the signatory ministries of the Istanbul Memorandum of Understanding (May 2007), representing the ERI SEE Governing Board as well as the ERI SEE Consultative Body.

This event, co-organised by the Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey (TÜBİTAK) and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat, under the auspices of the Turkish Chairmanship-in-Office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), will gather representatives of public research agencies and ministries responsible for science and education of the RCC members from SEE as well as the representatives of relevant international organisations and respective stakeholders. The purpose of the workshop is to contribute to the upgrading of the science and technology competitiveness of Western Balkan countries. In this respect, public research institutions both from Turkey and Western Balkan countries will share their experiences on scientific and technological development during the workshop.

The first meeting of the RCC Board in 2010 will begin a discussion on the Draft Strategic Work Programme of the organization for the 2011-2013 period. The RCC Secretary General Hido Biscevic will also present his regular report on activities of the RCC Secretariat in the past three months and inform on the planned future activities of the organization.

The RCC Board, chaired by the Secretary General, provides the RCC with operational guidance and supervision. It consists of those RCC members contributing to the budget of the RCC Secretariat as well as the European Union, represented by the Troika, consisting of the EU Presidency, the European Commission and the Council Secretariat.

This event, organized by the European Commission and hosted and supported by the Regional Cooperation Council Secretariat, will discuss next steps in the new approach of the European Commission in programming Multi-Beneficiary Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance focusing on the Sector Plan on Environment and Disaster Risk Reduction. It will gather representatives of the European Commission, beneficiaries, Regional Cooperation Council Secretariat and other stakeholders.

The meeting, which will be hosted by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat, aims at providing update on the outcome of various consultations in relation to the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) Multi-beneficiary three-year plan in the field of Public Administration and Governance. This event will gather representatives of Western Balkans countries in charge of public administration. Senior RCC Expert on Building Human Capital and Parliamentary Cooperation, Mladen Dragasevic, is to give introductory remarks at the meeting and to hold presentation on parliamentary cooperation and the role of the Regional Cooperation Council.

This international conference, which will mark the second anniversary of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), will bring together senior policy officials and key experts from the Western Balkans academia, the European Commission and International Financial Institutions, as well as representatives of relevant think tanks from the EU member states. It has been organized by the RCC Secretariat, in consultation with representatives of the academic community in the Western Balkans and the EU, such as the Vienna Institute for International Economic Studies.

The objective of the event is to review the impact of the global economic crisis on the Western Balkans, assess the different policy actions taken, examine options to avoid the spectre of economic protectionism and strengthen the long-term competitiveness of the region’s economies.

The results of the conference should influence policy debate in individual countries, on regional level and with international organizations, as well as provide specific topics for the work programme of the RCC and other regional organizations and initiatives.

Draft Agenda of the conference is available HERE.

This workshop, which will be organized by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat, intends to assess the present and possible future contribution of air transport services to an infrastructural connectivity network and its potential in fostering advanced economic and social development and cooperation in South East Europe (SEE). The event will bring together representatives of national authorities, relevant organizations and aviation industry of RCC members from SEE. The main rationale behind it is to explore potential to increase number of lines between the regional cities in order to strengthen links and mobility as important prerequisites for the overall regional cooperation development.