GIZ Open Regional Fund for Promotion of EU Integration through regional cooperation in the Network of Ministries of Foreign Affairs and in close cooperation with the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Regional Cooperation Council and Foreign Ministry of Bosnia and Herzegovina, organized the Second Regional preparatory meeting for the Western Balkans (WB) Summit in London, which took place in Sarajevo on 20th and 21st of March 2018.
Meeting was attended by representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the WB6, GIZ Sector Fund Manager-ORF for Promotion of EU integration, Foreign and Commonwealth office London Summit Deputy Coordinator and FCO Security Leader, RCC Secretary General and Coordinator for SEE 2020 Strategy, European External Action Service, EU Delegation to BiH representatives, EU Presidency (Bulgaria) representatives as well as representatives from MARRI and RAI.
After the first meeting held in Kolašin (Montenegro) on 24-26 January 2018, MARRI delegation (MARRI RC Director Tamara Mugoša and BORDAIRPOL II Project Manager, Selma Mehović) has been invited to take part.
Discussion primarily focused on three London Summit areas: economic stability, political and legacy issues and security.
Foreign and Commonwealth Office representatives outlined that on 10th of July WB6 leaders will meet with EU partners and the day before WB6 Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Ministers of Interiors/Security will have two separate meetings.
They have announced that conclusions of the forthcoming WB Digital Summit (April, Skopje) and the EU-WB Summit (May, Sofia) are to be considered in the preparation process of the London Summit Agenda.
Participants also exchanged views and positions regarding the Credible enlargement perspective for and enhanced EU engagement in the WB (New Strategy on WB). Joint Statement from WB6 Foreign Ministers meeting held in Sarajevo on 16th March has been shared. Complementarities between Berlin process and Brdo-Brijuni process, as well as the future and visibility of Berlin Process were elaborated.
The meeting has also served to evaluate the progress achieved in the key areas tackled during Trieste Summit in 2017 and further determine how to implement future deliverables arising from the Berlin Process.
In regards to London Summit goal related to cooperation in the area of security, MARRI delegation stressed that MARRI is investing efforts to achieve synergies with other existing initiatives in order to avoid overlap of activities. Information of the state of play related to IPA II funded establishment of Regional pool of translators for rare languages and Regional mechanism for exchange of non-personal data on legal migration through MARRI have been shared with the participants of the Meeting. The importance of intensified cooperation with FRONTEX in the process of assisting WB6 border police services in operational capacity building has been pointed out. It was announced that the handbook for border police at the airports on identifying minors as potential victims of smuggling and trafficking in human beings (VEGA children) produced by FRONTEX is to be translated into WB languages, thanks to cooperation between MARRI and FRONTEX.
It has been also pointed out that MARRI initiated negotiations with INTERPOL in order to train policemen at two trilateral police centers established in Trebinje (BiH) and Plav (Montenegro) for use of I 24/7 data base. These centers have been established in the framework of the Police Cooperation Convention in SEE (PCC SEE). Participants were also informed that MARRI and PCC SEE are to sign the Memorandum of Understanding at forthcoming MARRI Regional Forum of Ministers.