Croatia became a full member of the Southeast European Cooperation Process (SEECP) at
the conference, and Prime Minister Ivo Sanader was in attendance.
Speaking at the signing of a charter on good neighbourly relations, stability and cooperation in Southeast Europe, Sanader said Croatia was proud to have joined SEECP because it was interested in the stability and prosperity of the region.
Regional cooperation is an important condition the countries in the region must meet to integrate into the European Union, and SEECP is an original form of this cooperation which was initiated by the regional countries and not by international organisations or countries outside Southeast Europe.
SEECP's main objectives are strengthening security and political cooperation, and intensifying economic relations. The association comprises Greece, already an EU member, Bulgaria, Romania, and Turkey, EU admission candidates, Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, and Serbia and Montenegro, which aspire to EU membership, and as of today Croatia, also an EU membership candidate. Moldova joined the association today as an observer.
The final declaration underlines that organised crime, terrorism, corruption, and human trafficking are threats to the democratic stability of the rule of law, the market economy, and the development of civil societies, and that as such, they call for a national and transnational response from the SEECP countries.
Opening the conference, Romanian President Ion Iliescu announced the signing of a charter on a regional energy market. The declaration reads that the charter is expected to be signed in December and to enter into force in 2007.
The final declaration supports a multiethnic Kosovo, voices hope that October 23 parliamentary elections in the province will be free, fair, and democratic, and applauds the Serbian President's call on local Serbs to go to the polls.
The declaration also extends condolences to Macedonian authorities and the families of Macedonian and Turkish workers killed in Iraq.
The next SEECP conference will take place in Romania next year.