Bosnia's FM assesses European future and regional cooperation as crucial

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A European future and regional cooperation are the pillars of our foreign policy, said Bosnia's Foreign Minister Igor Crnadak, ahead of a meeting of the South-east Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP), the initiative currently chaired by Bosnia and Herzegovina.

“Regional cooperation is not something that is a condition to make progress on the path to European Union (EU) but something that the region truly needs,” Crnadak told N1.

He assessed the meeting, which is taking place in Sarajevo on Friday, as very important.

“This is the most important event so far. My messages rely on what the pillars of our foreign policy are – that's the future in the European Union and regional cooperation.

The SEECP was launched in 1996 at a ministerial meeting in Sofia. It aims to strengthen good neighbourly relations in the South-east Europe and transform the region into the area of peace, stability, security and cooperation, with the main goal of full integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures.

Besides the countries participating in the initiative, the Sarajevo meeting is also attended by political directors of the Working Party on the Western Balkans Region (COWEB), an EU's body responsible for the bloc's relations with the Western Balkans.

“We tried to make the visit of the working group in Sarajevo rich in terms of the meetings’ agendas. And they were. We tried to give more strength, more importance to these meetings and if we managed to do so then I am happy,” the foreign minister said.

The COWEB representatives praised the authorities for the reform processes in Bosnia during the meetings they held with the state's top officials on Wednesday. They pointed out the role of Bosnia's tripartite Presidency as a leader in the European integration of the country.