(ANSA) - ANCONA, JUN 27 - A conference to celebrate cooperation among the countries that make up the Adriatic Ionian Macroregion. Twenty-five years after the Ancona Declaration-which established the Adriatic Ionian Initiative (Iaa)-a conference is being held in the Marche capital, at the Mole Vanvitelliana, to commemorate the path of institutional and commercial cooperation launched in 2000 and implemented by the states that established it (Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Greece, Italy and Slovenia) and those that later succeeded it (Serbia, Montenegro, San Marino and North Macedonia). The event, organized by Ancona City Council, Iaa, Marche Region, Marche Chamber of Commerce and the Central Adriatic Sea Port System Authority, began with institutional greetings from Ancona Mayor Daniele Silvetti and Iaa Secretary General Giovanni Castellaneta. "These 25 years have served to pacify and create an environment of development and not war. - explained Castellaneta - Some problems are unfortunately not solved, such as Kosovo, and there are tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina as well. The challenge remains to imagine an even more prosperous future with the most rapid and possible entry of the Balkan countries into the EU to face a path of economic and social development together." The conference program also included a focus on European policies, one on cooperation between countries bordering the Adriatic and Ionian Seas, and another on the active role of civil society in the European integration process. (ANSA).