A two-day preparatory meeting for the 8th Conference of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) Speakers of Parliament ended in Sarajevo today with the participants agreeing on the outline programme and discussing the main aspects of the final declaration of the Conference.

The event, hosted by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat and co-organized with the Grand National Assembly of Turkey (GNAT) under the auspices of the Turkish SEECP Chairmanship-in-Office, gathered national coordinators of the SEECP parliaments.

The meeting was opened by the Head of the RCC Secretariat’s Building Human Capital Unit, Mladen Dragasevic, and GNAT Director of Foreign Relations and Protocol, Hasan Baytekin.

“Parliaments, as legislators, play a vital role in implementing relevant reforms and increasing efficiency and transparency of the governing structures in South East Europe (SEE)”, said Dragasevic. “The RCC sees promotion of bilateral and multilateral cooperation among parliaments in SEE, and establishment of closer ties between regional and EU parliaments, as a way forward in this area of regional cooperation.”

The 8th Conference of the SEECP Speakers of Parliament will be held in Istanbul, Turkey, on 3-5 May 2010.