Today in Prishtina, we launched the final stage of the Regional Networking and Dialogue Platform, an initiative that has taken us across the Region in pursuit of fresh ideas on how to enhance large-scale cooperation further.
The event also served as an excellent opportunity to celebrate the Prishtina Chairmanship in Office 2025, marked by a ceremony that brought together distinguished officials from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as diplomats and members of the diplomatic corps.
DRAFT SPEECH OF THE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR MURRA (AS PREPARED FOR DELIVERY. CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY)
Honorable Mr. Tahiri, Director of Europe, European Union and Regional Affairs
Honorable …. From EU (if confirmed)
Honorable members of the Diplomatic Corps accredited in Prishtina
Dear friends and partners of the Western Balkans Fund
Dear participants of the Regional Networking and Dialogue Session
It is a special pleasure to be here today in Prishtina, concluding one of the most significant initiatives we have ever launched, in cooperation with and thanks to the invaluable support of the European Union.
This format, the Regional Networking and Dialogue Sessions was established with the aim of identifying new ideas, challenges, and opportunities to further enhance regional cooperation.
It was launched last year with the first session in Skopje, dedicated to fostering cooperation in education and science.
This was followed by the second and third session in Belgrade and Podgorica, focused respectively on cooperation in culture and sustainable development field.
In all the three capitals, we were please to collect many new and important ideas.
Now, we are gathered here in Prishtina for the final stage of this pilot Networking and Dialogue Session, and also to celebrate the excellent Prishtina 2025 Chairmanship-in-Office of the Fund.
For those unfamiliar, the Western Balkans Fund is owned and directed equally by our six Contracting Parties, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of the Region.
Each year, through a rotating mechanism, one Ministry assumes leadership and implements its own set of priorities.
In January, the Prishtina Chairmanship set an ambitious agenda aimed at strengthening the Fund, increasing our outreach and visibility, and further diversifying our support schemes for civil society organizations and individuals.
I am pleased to note that in the six months since then, we have already accomplished most, if not all, of these priorities and will continue working along this path.
Ladies and Gentlemen
Our grants, nearly 400 since the establishment of the Fund, have often empowered fresh voices. And we have learned that by listening to these voices, we can achieve genuine progress by identifying new tools to advance faster and perform better.
This principle guided us during the Regional Networking Platform.
Throughout this event, you and many other selected participants have had the opportunity to express your perspectives, share insights, and discuss pertinent issues, fostering an open and collaborative dialogue.
The networking opportunities provided during these events have facilitated relationship-building among participants, laying the groundwork for sustained collaborative efforts.
Today, and over the course of these three days, our goal is to formulate findings and develop a set of practical recommendations on improving and expanding regional cooperation in our selected fields.
In doing so, the Fund will leverage its key role as a bridge connecting civil society organizations with decision-making institutions.
However, there is also ample opportunity to share new ideas, identify new challenges, and propose innovative solutions. My sincere invitation to all of you is to speak your mind openly about anything you consider important.
Your experience is highly valuable to us, and we look forward to hearing from all of you.
We believe in the power of everyone.
We believe in grassroots organizations, which have found a supportive hub for their ideas in the Western Balkans Fund.
As a matter of fact, we have a growing pool of former grassroot organisations, that after receiving support for the first time from the WBF, have grown to become leaders in their respective field of focus.
It is a testament of the immense power that cooperation has in our Region.
We also believe in supporting individuals experiencing the benefits of regional cooperation for the first time and in funding young people, particularly young women, who constitute the majority of our beneficiaries.
And we believe the dialogue initiated here today can create meaningful change for many.
In closing, I wish to express once more our gratitude and appreciation to our partners: the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Kosovo, Kenan Tora, Prishtina representative at our Council of Senior Officials, 0and His Excellency …, for actively facilitating this event here in Prishtina.
And of course, the European Union, which co-funds this dialogue through our Joint Action supporting regional civil society initiatives in the Western Balkans.
Thank you all for your presence today.
