DOCUMENT ON SECURITY IN SOUTHEAST EUROPE ADOPTED IN BUDAPEST

BUDAPEST, May 29 (Hina) - Foreign ministers of Southeast European countries on Tuesday adopted a document on the common assessment of security challenges and possibilities in the region, as part of the SEECAP project. The document was adopted in Budapest on the margins of a NATO conference. The SEECAP (SouthEastern Europe Common Assessment Paper) project includes countries participating in the SouthEastern Europe Initiative, the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe, and interested NATO members. It was launched by Romania last year in order to encourage the region's countries to draft a document containing an overview of the chief causes of instability and possible ways of cooperation in solving them. Croatia actively participated in the drafting of the SEECAP as the country which presided the Stability Pact's third round table. Foreign Minister Tonino Picula was in Budapest today when the document was adopted. In the document the region's countries for the first time agree as to the definition of the basic problems and priorities in future activities. The document defines security cooperation in the broadest sense, not only in military issues, and contains possible solutions for crisis situations. It also speaks of the need to develop democratic institutions and a civil society, and of the development of inter- ethnic relations in the region. (hina) ha