The Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Hido Biscevic met in Tirana today with top Albanian officials to discuss concrete regional projects, primarily in the energy and transport sectors.

The readiness of the Albanian government and relevant ministries to engage in the design and implementation of such projects was stressed at a meeting with Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ilir Meta, also in view of the last week’s discussions by the heads of state and government of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in Istanbul.

The two officials also talked about political situation in the region, pointing to a need for regional cooperation to remain a key drive of EU integration for the countries of South East Europe. They welcomed recent series of positive meetings and decisions among the region’s leaders promoting cooperation and EU integration as well as rapprochement in bilateral relations among the countries of the region.

In this context, Deputy Prime Minister Meta mentioned a recently held quadrilateral meeting of presidents of Albania, Montenegro, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Kosovo.

He positively evaluated the work of the RCC Secretariat, expressing his firm belief that the RCC would continue to operate on the principle of all-inclusiveness.

The Minister of Public Works and Transport, Sokol Olldashi, underlined the significance for Albania of its cooperation with neighbours in the areas of transport and infrastructure, such as through cleaning the bed of the Buna River and improving road connectivity with Montenegro.

Secretary General Biscevic suggested that these projects be discussed at the next meeting of the SEECP ministers of transport, to be held under the Montenegrin Chairmanship-in-Office. He expressed the readiness of the RCC to raise, on its end, the interest for such projects at future meetings of SEECP ministers of economy, energy and transport, in line with its mandate.

The meeting with Deputy Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy, Leonard Beqiri, focused on Albania’s views on priority regional projects, particularly the construction of a modern energy transport system between Albania and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

The RCC Secretary General’s visit was part of a consultation series with the South East European leaders in the context of preparation and implementation of a recently adopted RCC strategy for 2011-2013.