On September 5, The Western Balkans Fund First Conference of Ministers of Foreign Affairs took place in Bled, Slovenia.
Following the signing of the “Agreement concerning the establishment of the Western Balkans Fund”, on November 2015, and the ratification of the Agreement by all WB6 Contracting Parties, this development can be considered the key step on the way to the WBF official launching and leading the way for making it fully operational.
The Conference, attended by all the Foreign Ministers of WB6, had a strong focus on approving the final decisions, documents of high relevance for the progress and for the starting up of Fund’s activities. Respectively, the WBF Conference of MFA took these decisions:
- – Approved the : “Rules of Procedure of the Western Balkans Fund Secretariat”;
- – Approved the : “Rules of Procedure of the Council of Senior Officials of the Western Balkans Fund”;
- – Approved the :“Rules governing rights and duties of the Executive Director and the Deputy Executive Director of the WBF”;
- – Approved the : “Rules Governing the Use of the Financial Means of the Western Balkans Fund”;
- – Appointed Dr. Gjergj Murra, as the first Executive Director of the Western Balkans Fund, with a mandate starting on 1st October 2017;
- – Empowered the WBF Executive Director to sign the Host Country Agreement between the Republic of Albania and the Western Balkans Fund;
- – Decided that the Western Balkans Fund Chairmanship-in-Office for the period till the end of 2017 will be held by the Republic of Albania, to be followed for the year 2018 by Bosnia & Herzegovina;
- – Gave authority to the Committee of Senior Officials to take the necessary decisions regarding the Western Balkans Fund Secretariat structure and other organizational issues;
- – Decided to proclaim the official launching of the Western Balkans Fund and the beginning of its activities and operations.
Through this achievement, the WB6 give another clear demonstration of their political will for strengthening the neighborly relations, the spirit of cooperation in the region and towards the European integration processes.
Stay tuned: The first WBF Call for Project Proposals soon to come.
