Regional cooperation must help us respond to challenges that go beyond national borders, Romania's acting Foreign Minister Oana Toiu said on Thursday in New York, according to Agerpres.
As holder of the Chairmanship-in-Office of the Central European Initiative (ECI) and of the South-East Europe Cooperation Process (SEECP), Toiu dedicated this roundtable conference to a debate on the future of regional cooperation at a time characterised by multiple geopolitical challenges, with the theme "Regional Cooperation in a Changing World: Delivering Stability, Resilience and Sustainable Growth through Trust-Based, Results-Oriented Cooperation," Romania's Foreign Ministry (MAE) reported on Friday.
"In order to preserve the relevance of regional cooperation, it must demonstrate its added value, not only as a platform for political dialogue, but as a mechanism for achieving concrete results. Regional cooperation must help us respond to challenges that, by their nature, go beyond national borders and, at the same time, complement the policies of the European Union and support the European perspective of our partners," Toiu is quoted as saying in a MAE press release.
She presented the vision of the Romanian Presidency of SEECP, held under the motto "Resilient. Connected. European." as well as the priorities of the Romanian chairmanship of the ECI, held under the motto "Closer in the region, stronger in Europe." She underlined the opportunity offered by the simultaneous exercise of the two chairmanships to connect the agendas of Central, Eastern and South-Eastern Europe and to advance regional cooperation, reflecting multilateralism at regional level.
In the current security context, the importance of strengthening resilience and solidarity in the region, including in the face of multiple hybrid threats, was underlined. Toiu reiterated Romania's support for Ukraine and Moldova and highlighted the need to maintain channels of dialogue and practical cooperation, even at times of regional tensions.
Attending the roundtable conference were ECI Secretary General Franco Dal Mas, Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretary General Amer Kapetanovic, as well as the participants of the ECI and SEECP. Discussed in their conversations were the role of regional cooperation formats, strengthening regional resilience and connectivity, the European integration of the Western Balkans, Moldova and Ukraine, as well as the need to steer regional cooperation towards concrete results and tangible benefits for citizens.
The Chairmanship-in-Office of the SEECP will end with the organisation in Bucharest, in June 2027, of the SEECP Summit, to which the leaders of the following capitals will be invited: Ankara, Athens, Belgrade, Chisinau, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Pristina, Sarajevo, Skopje, Sofia, Tirana and Zagreb, along with the RCC secretary general and officials from EU institutions.
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