Foreign ministers of the Adriatic-Ionian region adopted on Wednesday the Sarajevo declaration as a conclusion of the two-day meeting in the Bosnian capital, which marked the end of Bosnia and Herzegovina's one-year presidency of the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region (EUSAIR), which officially ends on May 31.

Speaking at the event, Bosnia's foreign minister Elmedin Konakovic emphasised the importance of the regional cooperation as well as political stability of the Western Balkans. Without stability there is no progress, he stressed and called on his colleagues in other countries to work on stability without scoring political points.

“We got lobbyists in EU within the Adriatic-Ionian initiative. Foreign ministers of Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Italy understand what we're talking about,” he said.

The EUSAIR covers ten countries: four EU Member States (Croatia, Greece, Italy, Slovenia) and six non-EU countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, North Macedonia, San Marino, Serbia).

Bosnia took over the presidency from Albania on June 1, 2022, and will hand it over to Croatia on May 31.

It was adopted by the European Commission and endorsed by the European Council in 2014. The Strategy was jointly developed by the Commission and the Adriatic-Ionian Region countries and stakeholders, which agreed to work together on the areas of common interest for the benefit of each country and the whole region.