SKOPJE, Macedonia – The MARRI Visa Experts Meeting was organized by the MARRI Regional Centre in Skopje on 23-24 February 2005, with over twenty representatives of national governments/experts from the region: Albania (Presidency of the MARRI Regional Forum), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Macedonia, Serbia & Montenegro, representatives of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) and the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.
The MARRI Regional Centre in Skopje organized this meeting to initiate a regional discussion on visa regime harmonization/facilitation and consular cooperation. The participants reiterated the importance of the efforts of the MARRI Regional Centre as the administrative and supporting structure for the MARRI Regional Forum, having as its main aim the development of regional ownership at the political level of the issues defined in the MARRI Programme of Action, and being a practical tool for supporting this ownership, strategies and programs of action of the five Western Balkans countries in the issues of migration, asylum, refugees, displaced people and visa and relevant issues in the process of alignment with the European Union requirements and standards.