The 8th Conference of SEECP Speakers of Parliament has been opened in Antalya today. The National Assembly President Tsetska Tsacheva is taking part in the forum.

The Bulgarian parliament which hosts the Regional Secretariat for Parliamentary Cooperation in South East Europe stated at the conference its readiness to seek for new and pragmatic solutions to the regional partnership based on the Secretariat’s initiative for a project-based approach in the process of planning of SEE parliaments joint activities in priority areas of cooperation, exchange of experience and best practices.

The Speaker of the Bulgarian National Assembly Tsetska Tsacheva introduced to the participants in the 8th Conference the key areas of such cooperation proposed by the Bulgarian parliament among them the infrastructural projects where we attach priority importance to stepping up the European transport corridors construction in cooperation with other countries of the region. The Bulgarian parliamentarians are also seeking to intensify the legislative exchange with their colleague from South East Europe in other important areas such as combating organized crime and corruption, regional policy development and EU funds absorption. Tsetska Tsacheva underscored the shared priorities of the SEE national parliaments in these new pragmatic partnership modalities.

The SEECP Speakers of Parliament adopted a Final Declaration reiterating their willingness to expand the regional cooperation and set up working institutional mechanisms for implementation of joint initiatives. They took the commitment to establish a Working Group comprising representatives of national parliaments to consider the future forms of cooperation including the idea of Turkey to establish a SEECP Parliamentary Assembly. Strengthening the cooperation with other regional and international organizations and institutions and measures to overcome the global economic crisis impact on the region were among the other topics discussed