PRIME MINISTER ERDOGAN AND FOREIGN MINISTER GUL ATTEND SUMMIT
SARAJEVO - Southeast European Countries Co-operation Process Heads of State and Government summit meeting has started in Sarajevo, Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, and Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Gul are representing Turkey at the Seventh Summit of Heads of State and Government of Southeast European Countries Co-operation Process which is also known as ''Balkan Summit''.
Following the morning session of the summit at the Holiday Inn Hotel, Presidency Chairman Sulejman Tihic will host a luncheon in honor of guest heads of state and government and foreign ministers.
Besides eight full members - Turkey, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Greece, Macedonia, Serbia-Montenegro and Romania, Croatia will attend the summit as observer while Moldova will attend as special guest.
Presidents of Bulgaria, Romania and Serbia-Montenegro, acting president of Macedonia, and prime ministers of the other countries are attending the Balkan Summit.
At the summit in which several international organizations will also be represented, Romania will take over the term presidency from Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The summit will mainly focus on activities of the process.
It will also create a ground for bilateral talks between leaders of Southeast European countries.
The process of co-operation between Southeast European countries was initiated towards the end of the 1980s.
Following the meeting of foreign ministers in Sofia in 1996, a series of meetings took place in Salonica (1997), Istanbul (1998), Bucharest (1999) and Skopje (2000). A practice of informal meetings at the margins of international gatherings was also introduced. The summits were held in Cretes (1997), Antalia (1998), Bucharest (2000) and Skopje (2001). After the democratic changes, the Former Republic of Yugoslavia resumed the activities within the process of cooperation of Southeast European countries to the full extent at the summit in Skopje on 25 October 2000.
The objective of the process is to transform the region into an area of stability, security and co-operation, in harmony with the European integration processes, through the promotion of mutual dialogue and co-operation at all levels and in all fields of common concern. The process of co-operation of Southeast European countries is looked upon by Europe as an important forum for regional cooperation that should ensure stability, political and economic development in the part of the world. It constitutes a necessary element for these countries to be able to get closer to the EU and its institutions as well as to join that organization.
(UK-AY) 21.04.2004