Assistant FM Marušić attends Adriatic-Ionian Council

Assistant Minister for European Affairs and national coordinator for EUSAIR and EUSDR Hrvoje Marušić attended 13 May in Brussels the XVIII Adriatic-Ionian Council (AIC)

Assistant Minister for European Affairs and national coordinator for EUSAIR and EUSDR Hrvoje Marušić attended 13 May in Brussels the XVIII Adriatic-Ionian Council (AIC) and a meeting of EUSDR foreign ministers.

The AIC closed Bosnia’s Adriatic-Ionian Initiative chairmanship and announced its handover to Croatia for the next one-year period, as well as the co-chairmanship of EUSAIR Governing Board (June 2015-June 2016), making Croatia the first country to chair it alongside the European Commission.

Presenting Croatia’s chairmanship priorities, Marušić cited seeking a better synergy of AII experiences and the EU macro-regional strategy as a new form of regional cooperation, which has received strong support in the region and the EU, and has been recognized in the strategic documents for the EU’s multiannual financial framework (2014-2020). In light of that, Croatia’s chairmanship will focus on project cooperation, notably top 10 strategic projects with the maximum transnational effect on all the countries in the region.

As for concrete guidelines, Marušić underlined increased activities of the Adriatic-Ionian macro-region (both from tourist and investment standpoint), energy and transport networking and development of entrepreneurship capacities and preconditions for economic growth. Interparliamentary cooperation will remain an important part of AII chairmanship, as will the continuation of the EU integration process of other EUSAIR member states, Marušić said.

The main topics of the EUSDR foreign ministers’ meeting, held at the premises of the Baden -Württemberg State in Brussels, included governing and finding financial means for the strategy’s implementations.  

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