Secretary General Franco Dal Mas took part in the annual Coordination Meeting of Regional Organisations, held this year in Sarajevo on 4 December and hosted by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) under the thematic focus “SMART, SUSTAINABLE AND RESILIENT CONNECTIVITY AMONG THE REGIONS: Enhancing sustainable and inclusive economic development for resilience through connectivity among the regions and regional cooperation.”
The meeting bringing together the CEI, the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (AII), the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC) and the RCC, was opened with introductory remarks by the respective Secretaries General: Amer Kapetanović, (RCC); Giovanni Castellaneta, Secretary General of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative (AII); Lazăr Comănescu, Secretary General of the Organisation of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC); and Franco Dal Mas.
The meeting was also attended by the Sofia Chairmanship-in-Office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), the World Bank, and of Bosnia and Herzegovina Chairmanship of the EU Strategy for the Danube Region (EUSDR).
Representing over 20 countries across Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe, discussions focused on strategic priorities in the area of connectivity, such as transport, energy, digital infrastructure and people-to-people contacts and coordination for joint actions, with a shared objective of strengthening regional ties and contributing to balanced, sustainable growth.
Secretary General Dal Mas recalled the Organisation's ongoing efforts to reactivate the Trieste–Ljubljana–Zagreb–Belgrade railway corridor, as a central route of the CEI region.
“We see this corridor as a backbone for regional mobility and a model to be replicated along the wider TEN-T Network, particularly the Western Balkans–Eastern Mediterranean Corridor and can help position our geographical area within wider global initiatives, such as IMEC”.
CEI Deputy Secretary General Ivana Pejović, who also took an active part in the event, further underlined the need for strengthened cooperation among regional organisations, noting that enhanced alignment of initiatives and joint programmes would contribute to more impactful and concrete outcomes on the ground.
In conclusion, participants reaffirmed the strong commitment to deepen cooperation.
The host of the next Coordination Meeting of Regional Organisations will be the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC).
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