SOUTHEAST EUROPE TAKES NEW
INITIATIVE TO BOOST TRADE
17 September 1998
New impetus for regional cooperation
An association of national trade facilitation
committees, SECIPRO, was inaugurated this week in Sofia,
Bulgaria, by eight member countries of the Southeast European
Cooperative Initiative (SECI). This association of PRO*/ committees
was formed by SECI=s participating States - Bulgaria, Croatia,
Greece, Romania, Slovenia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
Macedonia and Turkey. Albania was unable to attend due to its
current political turmoil at home but it sent a message endorsing
the new association and confirming that it would participate in
the future.
Among the main aims of the new association is
to improve border crossing in the region to eliminate costly
delays that restrain the development of trade and discourage
foreign investment. Specific activities of the association will
include harmonizing use of the European Union's Single
Administrative Document so that it can serve as a common
declaration for trade among SECI countries. SECIPRO will also act
as a resource to national Ministries of Trade in the region on
trade facilitation issues addressed by the World Trade
Organization.
Tuesday=s programme of meetings relating to
SECIPRO began by an official meeting with Bulgaria=s Prime
Minister, Mr. Ivan Kostov, who expressed strong support for
regional cooperation in trade facilitation and appreciation to
the United States and the European Union regarding the SECI
initiative. The EU was represented by Ambassador Jacques
Wunenburger, who heads the EU delegation in Bulgaria. The US was
represented by Ambassador Richard Schifter, who originated
SECI. The Bulgarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, which
serves as secretariat for BULPRO, hosted SECIPRO=s inaugural
meeting. The meeting was opened by the Chamber=s President, Mr.
Bojidar Bojinov.
Bosnia and Herzegovina has not yet created a
PRO committee but nevertheless participated in this week=s SECI
meeting to learn how such committees function in other countries.
Hungary and the Republic of Moldova are the only participating
States of SECI that have not decided whether or not to implement
the decision of the SECI Agenda Committee to establish PRO
committees in their countries.
A forum reviewing the organization and
objectives of the PRO committee was moderated by Mr. Erhard
Busek, SECI Coordinator, and Mr. Costa Carras, co-Chair of the
Business Advisory Council to SECI. The keynote address was
delivered by Mr. Evgeniy Bakardjiev, Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Regional and Urban Development. Mr. Bakardjiev
expressed appreciation for the work done by the
United Nations Economic Commission for Europe and UN/CEFACT
in drawing up recommendations and guidelines that can serve as
models for simplifying international trade in the Balkans.
SECIPRO looks forward to cooperating with other
trade facilitation associations, such as EUROPRO, as well as
promoting bilateral contacts between PRO committees in the SECI
region and those in other trading-partner countries. The
association will use the Internet extensively to improve
information exchange among the individual PRO committees, thus
minimizing communications and travel costs. Additional details
will be provided shortly via the SECI Web site
(http://www.unece.org/seci/).
SECIPRO's next meeting is scheduled for 3
December in Skopje.
For further information, please
contact:
Mr. Will KEENAN
Regional Advisor
Trade Division
United Nations Economic Commission for
Europe
Palais des Nations
CH - 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland
Tel: + 41 22 917 27 93
Fax: + 41 22 917 01 43
E-mail: [email protected]
_____________
*/ The current national PRO committees
are: BULPRO (Bulgaria), CroatiaPRO, HellasPRO (Greece), MAKPRO
(the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia), RomPRO (Romania),
SloveniaPRO and TURKPRO (Turkey).