Regional Cooperation Council

SARAJEVO - In 2017, prospects of improvement in the relations among Russia, the EU and the US will be of the greatest significance for Serbia globally, while the biggest challenge at national level will be holding the presidential elections in a procedure that will not overly upset the political scene, says Regional Cooperation Council Secretary-General Goran Svilanovic.

BELGRADE - Croatia's EU accession marked the end of one accession model, and the process is now completely different for Western Balkan states due to the circumstances in the region and the EU itself, such as the economic crisis, migration and Brexit, Regional Cooperation Council Secretary-General Goran Svilanovic said Thursday.

BELGRADE - Croatia's EU accession marked the end of one accession model, and the process is now completely different for Western Balkan states due to the circumstances in the region and the EU itself, such as the economic crisis, migration and Brexit, Regional Cooperation Council Secretary-General Goran Svilanovic said Thursday.

Croatia's EU accession marked the end of one accession model, Regional Cooperation Council Secretary-General Goran Svilanovic said on Thursday.

The process is now completely different for Western Balkan states due to the circumstances in the region and the EU itself, such as the economic crisis, migration and Brexit, he said.

Regional cooperation, European integration of the Western Balkans and challenges facing Southeast Europe were high on the agenda of a meeting of the foreign ministers of the countries of the region, the Foreign Ministry in Sofia said on Tuesday.

The Bulgarian town of Pravets will on Tuesday host an annual Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) meeting.

It will be followed by a separate meeting of foreign ministers of South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) member states.

Regional cooperation is key to attracting more foreign investment money into the Balkans, stressed participants at the seventh Sarajevo Business Forum in the Bosnian capital on Wednesday.

"There is no country which is able to stand alone, especially in our region," Montenegro's economy minister Vladimir Kavaric told the forum.

Bulgaria will focus on three key areas of interaction in southeastern Europe during its current chairmanship of the regional cooperation initiative, the country's Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov has said.

"We know we have problems, and we are not going to make a list of problems, because then people, politicians may be stimulated to add to the list, rather than ticking off and agreeing on what we have resolved." 

When it comes to human smuggling, we have to admit that there is a lot of work to be done not only in Bulgaria but on an EU scale, according to Foreign Minister Daniel Mitov.