UNMIK/PR/1369
On Wednesday and Thursday this week, UNMIK/PISG hosted the second meeting of the National Coordinators for the South East Europe Transport Observatory (SEETO). This is the first time that the SEETO National Coordinators from Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, Former Yugoslavian Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia meet in Pristina. The meeting brought together all the countries of the region to discuss the tasks as laid out in the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Development of a South East Europe Core Regional Transport Network on a technical level.
Deputy Minister of Transport and Communication, Hafiz Krasniqi, closed the meeting by thanking the National Coordinators and the SEETO Technical Secretariat for their participation and pointed out the necessity of regional cooperation in order to become a member of the European family. He reinsured his readiness to contribute to the development of the regional transport network and emphasized the importance for Kosovo to be connected to the Pan-European Transport Network.
The representative of the SEETO Secretariat, Mr. Douglas Rasbash, chairman of the meeting, highlighted the work of National Coordinators as being indispensable for the cooperation process and regular exchange of information on transport issues. “The meeting helped us to agree on the next steps such as setting up an action plan in order to prioritize the projects in the transport sector in the region.”
In June 2004, UNMIK/Kosovo became a signatory to the MoU on the Development of a South East Europe Core Regional Transport Network. The signatories, including Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Croatia, FYR Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, UNMIK/Kosovo and the European Commission committed themselves to cooperate for developing a regional transport network in South East Europe. A Regional Steering Committee assisted by SEETO coordinates and observes the implementation of the MoU.
SEETO assists the Regional Steering Committee in supervising and promoting the implementation of the Core Transport Network through strongly liaising with the National Coordinators. The EU-Pillar ensured that the SEETO National Coordinators meetings are alternately hosted by the signatories to the MoU.