Politicians, diplomats and experts from CEI Member States, including representatives from the academia, attended the international conference on “European Integration through Regional Cooperation-Perspectives of Macro-Regional Strategies”, in Skopje on 21 May 2015. The event, held in the framework of the Macedonian CEI Presidency, was organised by the Institute for Geostrategic Research and Foreign Policy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Macedonia in cooperation with the Institute for Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary and the Institute for International Relations of the Czech Republic.
The conference offered the opportunity to gather various actors involved in the elaboration of the macro-regional strategies and to assess the added value of this new concept on the enhancement of regional cooperation in Europe.
Discussions focused on the overall importance and perspectives of the EU Macro-Regional Strategies within the EU integration process of the enlargement countries; the importance of achieving full participation of all countries concerned especially those in SEE; the implementation of the EU Macro-Regional Strategies and their contribution to further developing and strengthening regional cooperation as a key requirement in the EU accession process of the enlargement countries.
CEI Alternate Secretary General, Amb. Margo Klestil-Löffler underlined that regional cooperation had been attracting great interest during the last years, mainly because of macro-regional strategies launched at EU level, and that the CEI could play an important role in the governance of the macro-regional strategies, thus contributing to a better European integration and cohesion.
The conference was co-financed by the CEI Cooperation Fund and the International Visegrad Fund.
See also: Conference conclusions and full press release.
