Regional Investment Reform Agenda endorsed

The Regional Investment Reform Agenda (RIRA) was endorsed by representatives of the six Western Balkan (WB6) economies at the Ministerial meeting of the South East Europe Investment Committee (SEEIC) held in Tivat, Montenegro, on Friday, May 11, 2018, the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) announced.

The goal of the RIRA is greater harmonization of WB6 investment policies with the European Union (EU) standards and international best practices, within the framework of the SEE 2020 Strategy, Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) and EU pre-accession and accession processes.

The ministerial meeting that gathered regional Ministers, Assistant Ministers of Economy as well as senior officials in charge of investment portfolios from the region, was co-organized by the Ministry of Economy of Montenegro and the Regional Cooperation Council

Dragica Sekulic, Minister of Economy of Montenegro, addressed the meeting as the host, expressing satisfaction over finalization of this major step in implementation of the Multiannual Action Plan on Regional Economic Area (MAP REA), adopted by the region’s Prime Ministers at the WB6 Summit in Trieste last July.

– This document sets grounds for serious work on the investment reform agenda of individual WB economies but also put the region in a competitive and investment-friendly perspective, thus enabling the region to become attractive investment destination but also gives individual economies opportunity to utilize comparative advantages of this process – Sekulic said.

Gazmend Turdiu, Deputy Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), said that “this is a process, and we are all together the owners of it. This ownership includes responsibility and that is why we need to maintain strong coordination of our capacities and resources so that we can successfully address the challenges ahead of us”.

The RIRA will be forwarded to presentation, consideration and approval of the region’s Prime Ministers at the occasions of the upcoming WB6 Summits in Sofia and London, taking place on May 17 and July 10, respectively.

The meeting participants recognized the leading role of the SEEIC-CEFTA Joint Working Group on Investments as the main regional platform for implementation of measures stipulated by the MAP REA pillar on investments, the RCC announced.

Cefta Secretariat Brussels

Ministarstvo ekonomskog razvoja Crne Gore

Regional Investment Reform Agenda

RIRA

South East Europe Investment Committee

SEEIC

Regional Cooperation Council

RCC

Western Balkans investment policies

harmonization of Western Balkans investments

SEE 2020 Strategy

Central European Free Trade Agreement

CEFTA

Dragica Sekulic

Gazmend Turdiu

accession to the EU

Multiannual Action Plan on Regional Economic Area

MAP REA

regional cooperation