The meeting was attended by members of the delegations from Ankara, Athens, Belgrade, Ljubljana, Podgorica, Skopje, Sofia, Tirana and Zagreb, as well as a representative of the Regional Cooperation Council. The meeting focused on the priorities of the Montenegrin presidency of the SEECP, as well as the seat and budget of the SEECP PA Permanent Secretariat. The representative of the Regional Cooperation Council presented the objectives of the South East Europe Strategy (SEE 2030).

The priorities of the of the Montenegrin presidency for the period July 2022 to July 2023 were presented by Radovan Bogojevic, Director General of the Directorate General for Multilateral Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Montenegro. Delegation member Bojan Torbica emphasised the importance of the priorities defined by the Montenegrin presidency, the need to strengthen security and economic cooperation, as well as democratic institutions, and the need for better infrastructural connectivity in the region of South East Europe. He said that it is important for the region to continue to encourage digital and technological development in order to meet the challenges of the 21st century and become a competitive player on the global market. He thanked the EU for it concrete support of the Western Balkans’ enlargement prospects, especially for those who consistently implement reforms and harmonise the national legislation with the EU acquis. At the same time, it is important that the European Union remains consistent in terms of respecting the principles and policy of dialogue and compromise and not remain silent as regards challenges in the region which threaten to destabilise the area, emphasised B. Torbica. The National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia has for years been actively participating in the activities of the South East Europe Cooperation Process in the desire to contribute to economic cooperation and peace and stability in the region of South East Europe, Torbica concluded.

In the second part of the meeting - the seat of the SEECP PA Permanent Secretariat, Bojan Torbica said that after the constitution of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly on 10 May 2014, the parliaments entered a new, more prosperous phase of mutual relations. Still, there are some open questions regarding the functioning of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly viz. the seat of the SEECP PA Permanent Secretariat and funding model. Making a decision on this issue is a veritable test for the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly, emphasized B. Torbica. He pointed out that further activities should be focused on reaching a consensual agreement on the seat and budget of the SEECP PA Permanent Secretariat, which will round up the process of constituting the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly. He said he believed that the decision to set up the Permanent Secretariat must be made by consensus of all the participants of the SECP Parliamentary Assembly on the two existing candidacies: Sofia and Istanbul. The principle of consensus is the basic principle that should continue to be the decision-making method here because dialogue and agreement on the most important regional issues is the essence of this type of parliamentary cooperation. The process of institutionalisation of the SEECP Parliamentary Assembly will be completed with the establishment of the Permanent Secretariat. It is equally important that the decision on the seat of the secretariat is supported by all the participants because that is the only way that guarantees it will be operable and functional, Torbica concluded.