The Republic of Serbia organized regular session at the midterm of the actual Presidency in Office on 9th December 2016.
MARRI Regional Committee meeting has been held in line with the Guidelines and Rules of procedures of the Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative. Pavle Jankovic, Head of Department for Regional Initiatives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Serbia, chaired the meeting. The Members of the Committee, high representatives from the respective Ministries of Foreign Affairs of MARRI Participants were, as follows: Kristina Milosavljevic, MARRI Committee Member from the Republic of Serbia; Gjergj Murra, MARRI Committee Member from the Republic of Albania; Fitim Gllareva, MARRI Committee member from Kosovo*; the designated representative of the Republic of Macedonia, Aleksandar Todosiev; the designated representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zoran Perkovic and the designated representative of Montenegro, Cedomir Fustic.
The Committee, assisted by the Center, prepared the documents to be discussed and recommended for endorsement of MARRI Forum – the Budget for 2017 and respective Annual Contributions Decision. Following its competences to decide upon the structure and the staff of the Center, in consultation with the Director, the Committee also considered implementation of Forum decision 2015 to introduce the position of the Deputy Director, as well as the need for upgrading Program management at the Center.
Regional Center Director, Tamara Mugosa briefed the Committee on the ongoing reform, activities and projects of the Center, as well as on future tasks to be completed in line with the Annual Program of activities (June 2016-June 2017).
The Committee discussed ongoing and future activities and provided guidelines for the Initiative, as well as and the ways of implementing ideas on cooperation of MARRI Participants.
In a very constructive atmosphere, it was assessed unanimously that MARRI represents an important regional tool to address the needs related to EU accession process of all MARRI Participants and has particular relevance in addressing the challenges of the migration crisis that affects the Region.
By reiterating the fact that MARRI represents one of the oldest initiatives with regional ownership, the Committee encouraged further reform of the Initiative, developing this regional mechanism more tailor made – based on the needs of national administrations dealing with the areas of MARRI core mandate.
The Committee agreed on the Budget proposal for the next year, tasked RC to commence process of MARRI Strategy 2017-2020 development, supported further reform activities and organizational upgrading supported by donors and international partners, encouraging RC as the Secretariat of the Forum to increase the volume of their activities with initiatives and projects.
The Committee also pointed out vital importance of further synergy of MARRI activities with the activities of other regional initiatives and international organizations.
*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSC 1244 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence.