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Zagreb - Trust is key for Europe's southeast to develop, chairmen of foreign policy committees of several Southeast European parliaments said at a meeting in Zagreb on Thursday. This, the fifth such meeting, was attended by Milorad Pupovac of Croatia and his counterparts from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, Macedonia and Germany as well as many representatives of the Croatian government and ministries, the European Commission and the European Parliament.
Josip Juratovic, a member of the Bundestag foreign policy committee, underlined the importance of an economic strategy for Southeast Europe and of creating political nations to achieve economic prosperity for citizens, security and ecological sustainability. He said parliaments should be the drivers in the search for good solutions.
Without building trust in this region, economic development will not possible and investments should urgently be facilitated, otherwise there would be no domestic, let alone foreign investments, Juratovic said, underlining the need for a strong programme which included all national and EU institutions.
Pupovac said a weak cooperation policy disrupted the movements of goods, adding that EU enlargement was therefore of huge importance for Croatia. He underlined the need to eliminate obstacles to economic cooperation, citing the Danube Region Strategy and the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative as an incentive for cooperation between countries in Southeast Europe. Pupovac said creating regional policies focused on economic policies, infrastructure and energy projects was a prerequisite for regional cooperation. The purpose of regional policies is to enhance the economic potential of countries, he said, adding that not everyone could produce everything, otherwise they would not be competitive. (Hina/Press Office)