FROM THE MEDIA

W. Balkan countries to enhance co-op for regional security

www.chinaview.cn 2005-06-22 08:30:29

TIRANA , June 21 (Xinhuanet) -- Western Balkan countries held Tuesday a conference in Macedonian capital of Skopje to enhance their cooperation for regional security, the Macedonian Information Agency (MIA) reported.

The officials and experts from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Macedonia,Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia and Albania attended the conference focused on the Project for Assessing the Threats and Challenges to the Regional Security of Western Balkan, the MIA said.

According to the report, the project is aimed to boost the regional cooperation and to coordinate positions on the future elaboration of the regional security strategy, which will grant assistance to the countries on their road to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and The European Union (EU).

"Europe cannot be stable without the Balkans," Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buskovski said at the conference, adding that the Balkan countries presently were close to their goal to become part of Europe.

By an extensive cooperation, the Western Balkan countries would manage to define the real threats to the region, possible forms of cooperation and the international community's role in this process, Macedonian Defense Minister Jovan Manasijevski said.

The EU Special Representative to Macedonia Michael Sahlin reiterated in the conference that the western Balkan future remained in Europe, while the regional cooperation and reforms were still priorities for its integration with the EU.