The meeting was opened by the Chairperson of the National Assembly’s Foreign Affairs Committee Aleksandra Djurovic who stressed that the goals of the regional initiative, launched in 2012, are reconciliation and economic recovery of the countries of South East Europe, as well as the well-being of everybody in the region. Djurovic stated that one of Serbia’s foreign policy priorities is fostering good-neighbourly relations and underlined Serbia’s commitment to actively participate in the building of trust and stability in the region. The Foreign Affairs Committee Chairperson also reminded of Serbia’s important role as OSCE 2015 Chair, which has given it the opportunity to contribute to the resolution of the Ukraine crisis as an impartial mediator.

The participants were addressed by Ambassador Roksanda Nincic, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who spoke of the priorities of Serbia’s chairmanship of the OSCE, as did the Head of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, H.E. Ambassador Peter Burkhard. Ambassador Burkhard said that 2015 is very important for the countries of South East Europe as they now have the unique opportunity to contribute to the resolution of the global crisis. He also said he hoped all the countries in the region will continue to resolve their open issues by dialogue.

Croatian Parliament’s (Sabor) Foreign Policy Committee Chairperson Prof. Dr Milorad Pupovac, Chair of the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Dusanka Majkic, Chairperson of the Committee on International Relations and Immigrants of the Assembly of Montenegro Miodrag Vukovic and the Chair of the Foreign Policy Committee of the Assembly of the Republic of Macedonia Antonio Miloshoski exchanged opinions and views on cooperation in the region. The participants agreed that the countries in the region should cooperate more tightly on foreign security policy, particularly via the parliamentary oversight over the security sector. The chairpersons of the foreign affairs committees of the parliaments of the countries in the region highlighted the importance of joint meetings which would contribute to the economic recovery of the region and boost the efficiency of the fight against corruption and crime, improve the life of their citizens and expedite EU accession.

The Head of the National Assembly’s standing delegation to OSCE PA Dr Dijana Vukomanovic said that Serbia, as OSCE Chair, sees its role in contributing to the peaceful policy in the world. Vukomanovic said that the parliamentarians of the OSCE PA have identified the unresolved issues viz. war crimes, refugees, national minorities, especially the Roma, the rule of law, independence of courts, fights against corruption and crime and freedom of the media.

The participants of the meeting also discussed the cooperation of national delegations within international organisations which was the central topic of the Sixth regional meeting.

Discussing the modalities of cooperation within international organisations, the participants of the meeting suggested that this type of cooperation should be improved via taking common stands within international parliamentary organisations, having regular consultation on issues debated within international organisations and launching joint initiatives within multilateral parliamentary forums. They also suggested that maintaining political stability and protecting and improving children’s rights, fighting violence against women and domestic violence and education, should be the topics of common interest.

In the second part of the meeting, the participants discussed strengthening the influence of women MPs, and Foreign Affairs Committee member Marija Obradovic presented the results and conclusions of the conference of SEE women parliamentarians “Equal and Empowered - Stronger Together”, held on 2 March 2015. She said that, though the participation of women at the National assembly has been increased, the participation of women in the executive power and managerial boards of companies needs more work.

The seventh meeting of the Chairpersons of Foreign Affairs Committees of South-East European Parliaments will be held in Skopje, Macedonia, in the second half of 2015.