A regional workshop aimed at establishing cooperation between state bodies of Southeast European countries in monitoring the progress of creating environment conducive to the development of civil society was organized by the Government Office for Cooperation with NGOs and the MFEA Centre of Excellence and held 22 November at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs.
The goal of the workshop is to determine key indicators based on which regular self-assessment of progress in the development of state-civil society cooperation would be conducted, which is a precondition for the sustainability of EU-related reforms. The workshop was attended by 20 or so representatives of state bodies in charge of cooperation with civil society organizations as well as several international experts and representatives of the European Commission.
Assistant Minister Vesna Batistić Kos delivered and address in which she said that “crucial moment in the transformation of relations between the government sector and CSOs took place during Croatia’s EU accession.” “CSOs contribution to the effectiveness of the whole process was threefold: by ensuring its constant transparency, assuming an important role in monitoring its implementation and brining its expertise into the process,” said Batistić Kos.
CSOs are an important factor in the strengthening of regional cooperation, which is one of Croatia’s main foreign policy goals and a priority of the development cooperation policy, precisely because Croatia can share its expert know-how in the field of civil society development with the countries in the region.