About the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative

The impetus behind the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI) is encouraging cooperation among its Participating States and facilitating their integration into European structures.

SECI is not an assistance program. It does not interfere with, but rather complements with existing initiatives. SECI endeavors to promote close cooperation among the governments of the region and to create new channels of communication among them.

Furthermore, SECI attempts to emphasize and coordinate regionwide planning, identify needed follow-up and missing links, provide for better involvement of the private sector in regional economic and environmental efforts, help to create a regional climate that encourages the transfer of know-how and greater investment in the private sector, and assist in harmonizing trade laws and policies.

The United States, determined to advance support mechanisms for the Dayton Peace Agreement and to develop a viable exist strategy from the region, advocated the idea to promote regional economic and environmental cooperation among the countries of Southeast Europe. SECI was launched on the basis of "Points of Common EU-U.S. Understanding."

The Participating States of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative held an inaugural meeting in Geneva on December 5-6, 1996 and formally adopted the SECI Statement of Purpose on December 6, 1996. On December 19, 1996, as authorized by the Participating States, the OSCE Chairman-in-Office (Swiss Federal Councilor Flavio Cotti), named Dr. Erhard Busek, former vice-chancellor of Austria, as SECI "High-Level Personality", hereinafter Coordinator.

The SECI Participating States include: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Slovenia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkey and, as of December 2000, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Statement of Purpose

The States listed below at the inaugural meeting of the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative have decided to participate in this important regional initiative aimed to encourage cooperation among the countries of the region and facilitate the access of Southeast Europe to European integration. Having agreed to this Statement of Purpose, the states listed below hereby create the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI). SECI shall be a forum in which representatives of the participating states meeting to discuss common regional economic and environmental problems calling for concerted action and shall take into account region-wide plans for dealing with these problems. Meetings of representatives shall be followed promptly by the convening of ad hoc working groups of technical experts, who shall be responsible for the development of concrete proposals.

SECI shall not interfere with existing plans, projects, or initiatives, and shall interact with other initiatives for regional co-operation in southeastern Europe, including those launched by the European Union, by the Sofia Declaration on Good-Neighborly Relations, Stability, Security and Cooperation in the Balkans, the Central European Initiative, and the Black Sea Economic Cooperation. It shall seek to complement them by (a) providing for close cooperation among the governments of the region, (b) emphasizing region-wide planning, (c) identifying needed follow-up and missing links, (d) providing for better involvement of the private sector in the regional economic and environmental effort, and (e) helping create a regional climate that encourages the participation of the private sector. SECI shall authorize a High-Level Personality (HLP) to follow up on the decisions taken by the representatives of the participating states and to facilitate the implementation of projects.

The HLP shall assist SECI members to ensure that decisions are effectively implemented. SECI will seek to make arrangements which will allow the HLP to be assisted by the staff of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (ECE). In this regard the HLP shall coordinate closely with the chairman and the Executive Secretary of the ECE. The international financial institutions, the EU, the U.S., and other interested parties would be welcome to assist SECI if they so wish by providing their expertise on an ad hoc basis in relation to individual projects. Further, it is SECI's objective to attract the private sector to participation in SECI activities.

Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Greece, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Turkey, Croatia*, Slovenia* (See Annex I).

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Final Points of Common EU - US Understanding

The purpose of SECI is to enhance regional stability through the development of economic and environmental cooperation throughout the region, in particular by involving the private sector in these activities.

SECI should complement other initiatives in the region, including the process of stability and good-neighborliness in Southeast Europe launched by the EU, and should not duplicate them. The closest coordination and cooperation possible should be sought with other initiatives in the region, which aim at enhancing economic and environmental cooperation there.

It is important that the initiative be taken forward by the countries of the region themselves, i.e. the participants.

All the countries of the region will be invited to participate in SECI. However, participation by the FRY will be subject to the understanding that it will be without prejudice to any limitations now in place on the FRY’s participation in international organizations or any other current restrictions on the FRY until conditions for their removal have been met. Nor would FRY participation modify the respective EU and U.S. policies concerning normalization of the relations of the FRY with the international community.

The participants in SECI will select a high-level personality to facilitate the activities of SECI. The participants in SECI may decide to approach the OSCE Chairman-in-Office of use his good offices with regard to the selection and naming of such a high-level personality. The EU would prefer that the high-level personality comes from the region. If a suitable personality cannot be identified within the region, an alternative could be an individual from another European state.

The necessary secretarial and other professional support for the high-level personality will be worked out by the participants in consultation with the high-level personality, the U.S., the EU and, where appropriate, relevant international organizations.

SECI will focus on projects which will not compete with those of other international initiatives or institutions, including particularly the EU’s policies and projects in the region (e.g., regional approach, pre-accession strategy). SECI will be informed of the projects developed by the Union, the U.S. and others, but will not have any oversight of them. SECI will ensure that the EU and others providing assistance are informed of SECI’s work.

The international financial institutions, the EU and the U.S. may participate in SECI projects on a case-by-case basis. They may assist SECI by providing their expertise.

SECI will not imply the provision of additional public financial commitments. Accordingly, the participating states of SECI will be advised not to use SECI as a basis for requesting EU or U.S. funding.

The timing of the launching of SECI will need to be considered in the light of developments in the region, in particular the outcome of the 14 September elections in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

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Annex I
Once the governments of Croatia and Slovenia complete the remaining procedures, they shall be able to notify the HLP of adherence to the Statement of Purpose.

As SECI contemplates the participation in the Initiative of all twelve states of the region, an invitation to the initial meeting was extended to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia-Montenegro). That invitation was withdrawn in light of recent developments in the FRY.

The FRY will be invited by the Chairman of the present meeting, following consultations with participating states, to participate in SECI when the reasons for withdrawal of the invitation no loner exist. It continues to be understood that mere participation by the FRY in SECI will not, by itself, remove the outer wall of sanctions, nor change the FRY's ineligibility for assistance arising out of SECI participation.