State Secretary Davor Božinović attended working meeting of SEE countries entitled “European Perspective of SEE in Times of Challenges: Dealing with Economic and Energy Crisis”

The meeting was organized on the behest of Serbian Vice-Prime Minister in charge of European Integration Božidar Đelić, and saw the participation of state delegations from Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia, Montenegro, and Albania.

The participants supported Croatia’s completion of its EU negotiations by the end of this year, while Croatia expressed its support for the progress of each of the participating countries, based on the criteria set and their individual results.

State Secretary Božinović said that maintaining the Euro-Atlantic perspective is a precondition for the successful implementation of the far-reaching and demanding reforms that await all countries of South-Eastern Europe. He pointed out Croatia’s determination to continue carrying out its reforms in accordance with the European Commission’s Indicative Timetable for the completion of the technical part of the negotiations by end-2009.

Serbian Vice-Prime Minister Đelić stressed the importance of individual approach, noting Croatia as a country that has progressed in the Euro-integration process the most.

The participants confirmed the complementarity of regional cooperation and individual approach in the EU enlargement to Europe’s south-east. The participant countries also presented their view on the economic and energy crisis, as well as its impact on the region.

Head of delegations also met with Serbian President Boris Tadić.