News

A Special meeting of the Adriatic and Ionian Council ( Ministers of Foreign Affairs ) was held in Athens under the Albanian Presidency of the Adriatic Ionian Initiative on on 6 February 2014.

Not foreseen in the regular Calendar of events of the Presidency, it was convenend by the Chairmanship - back to back with the stakeholders Conference of the EUSAIR - to stress the convinced support of the eight Governments to this process deemed fundamental for the future of the eight participating Countries.

The meeting formally and solemnly gave evidence of the Adriatic and Ionian Iniziative being the INTERGOVERNMENTAL ANCHORAGE of the macroregional process and confirmed the full support and engagements of the Eight Governments to the EUSAIR.

Opening the meeting , the Chairman in Office Minister Bushati expressed the warmest thanks of the Eight Ministers to the European Commission and personally to Commissioners Damanaki and Hahn for their continuous support and for encouraging AII to organized the AI Council back to back with the Stakeholders Meeting .

The Special meeting of the AI Council offered the opportunity to take stock of the Intergovernmental activity of the first part of the Albanian Presidency and made possible a discussion , at Ministerial level , of the preparation of the final phase of the macroregional process and of the actions that , in each and every Country , were put in place in order to prepare the ground for the fundamental document , the Action Plan , which will be adopted in the second part of the year .

The Secretary General of the AII met, last Friday 10th of January in Tirana, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Albania, Mr. Ditmir Bushati and the President of the Albanian Parliament, Mr. Ilir Meta.

The conversation with Foreign Minister Bushati mainly focused on the forthcoming Special Adriatic Ionian Council which will take place in the morning of 6 February in Athens with the attendance of EU Commissioners Hahn and Damanaki.

A convinced reaffirmation of the strong support of the eight Governments to the process they decided to start in May 2010 during the AIC Council held in Ancona - seen with great favor by the European Commission - will be at the core of the Meeting and provide an extra boost to the EUSAIR process in view of its final approval by the end of the year.

The conversation with President Meta concentrated on some aspects of the forthcoming Annual Meeting of the Presidents of Parliaments which has been scheduled for the beginning of April in Tirana.

President Meta attaches a great relevance to the event and aims at giving it a practical and concrete character . The issue of setting up parliamentary delegations to the AII should be finalized with the creation of small National Delegations .This step is deemed particularly significant in view of the approval of EUSAIR to which civil societies have largely contributed.

• Eusair

A Stakeholder Conference on the EU Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Region, jointly organized by the European Commission and the Hellenic Presidency of the Council of the European Union took place in Athens on 6-7 February 2014 .

The New Strategy will integrate the Maritime Strategy for the Adriatic and Ionian Sea adopted by the Commission on 30 November 2012.

It will cover the Eight participating Countries and focus on areas of regional mutual interest based around four main pillars : Driving innovative maritime and marine growth ; Connecting the Region ; Preserving , protecting and improving the quality of the environment ; Increasing regional attractiveness .

During the Conference , the results of the extensive consultations with stakeholders which took place from September to December 2013 , alongside with a public consultation launched by DG Regio , were presented .

The Conference promoted a debate with the participants on the future challenges that can be tackled following a macroregional approach .This will support the preparation of the future Communication and Action Plan of the Strategy , which the Commission is due to present before the end of 2014 .

The Agenda of the Conference included a Plenary Session with statements from the Ministers of Foreign Affairs ; a presentation by the European Commission of the state of play of the strategy and its future prospects ; four parallel thematic workshops on the main pillars of the Strategy.

The Round Table on Tourism under Albanian Chairmanship took place in Tirana last Friday 10th of January. The meeting was opened by the Albanian Minister for Tourism and Urban Development Mrs. Eglantina Gjermeni who underlined the crucial role of Tourism for the sustainable development of the entire region and the great opportunities that will come from the approval of the EUSAIR.

The Round Table was aimed at supporting the EUSAIR process and was enriched by the participation of representatives of the European Commission (DG REGIO, DG Enterprise and Industry, Representation in Tirana) together with the representatives of the AII participating countries and the AII Secretary General, Amb. Pigliapoco.

The minutes will be published as soon as they are approved.