The cooperation and integration potential of regional initiatives in the Balkans

Project Coordinator: Duško Lopandić, Ph. D.
Project Assistant: Nina Stefanović, e-mail: emins@emins.org

One-year project of regional character aimed at forming a network of experts from Balkan countries for the purpose of exchanging opinions and producing a study on the effects of the "Stability Pact" and other regional initiatives. The project is oriented towards the intensification of "local participation" in the process of initiating and developing regional initiatives in South-eastern Europe . Apart from EMinS, the expert network includes the Institute for Market Research in Sofia, the Romanian Centre for Political Economy Bucharest, the Institute for International Studies Tirana, and "FORUM" Skopje.

The project has received the support of the European Commission and the Open Society Fund.

Within the framework of the project, two round-table discussions have been held, as well as a big international conference:

The preparatory workshop, an open type event - involving exchange of opinions and the preparation of a regional project, was held in Belgrade in January 2001. There were ten participants.

• The Timisoara workshop (9-10 March 2001). The discussion focussed on the state of integration within the region, across-the-border cooperation, the forms and ways of expanding neighbourly cooperation in the region, the role of state initiatives and other forms of across-the-border cooperation (non-governmental organisations, businessmen's associations and the like), the experiences of some organisations as regards cooperation, the experiences of the Banat region (Romania, FRY, Hungary), etc. There were 50 representatives of the network from across the region.
• The international conference "The effects of regional initiatives in South-eastern Europe ", held in Belgrade (16. 12. 2001). There were 112 participants, including the representatives of a number of regional initiatives and countries from this region. In the course of the two-day event, there were 27 exposés (19 from foreign and 8 from domestic participants). The conference papers will soon be published in a separate publication of EMinS. The conclusions reached at the conference have been extensively distributed to countries of South-eastern Europe , the EU, the representatives of regional initiatives, etc.
• The publication of "Regional initiatives in South-eastern Europe " (in Serbian and English) by Duško Lopandić, Ph. D., (EMinS and IMPP, 2001, 276 pages).