Towards a common economic space in Southeast Europe

The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank (PNoWB), with the support of the Hellenic Parliament and in cooperation with the World Bank and the Hellenic Foundation for European and Foreign Policy (ELIAMEP), organized a conference, which focused on the theme of “Towards a Common Economic Space in Southeast Europe”. The event was attended by more than 40 parliamentarians from the following countries and entities: Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, Kosovo, FYROM, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, and Turkey, together with World Bank Country Directors and donors and groups who are active in the region, including the EU and the Stability Pact.

The meeting came at a critical time in the process of European Union integration, with all of the countries invited to the conference being actively involved in various stages of discussions with the EU.  As EU integration takes its course, the conference’s aim was to explore what actions can be taken now in parallel to that process to achieve closer economic ties, reduce poverty, and improve cooperation between Southeast European countries.

With this in mind, participants were asked to take part in brainstorming sessions focused on four common issues that all countries involved are grappling with – namely energy, governance, labour markets and immigration, and trade/transport.  Each session was chaired by a parliamentarian, and research was presented from the World Bank as well as contributions from other discussants and independent organizations.  These sessions were aimed at producing actionable ideas for moving forward on the issues.

The Parliamentary Network on the World Bank was set up to increase the collective accountability of the World Bank and other donors.  Created in early 2000 as a small informal network, PNoWB has grown to include members from some 110 countries and has five national and regional chapters in India, East Africa, Japan, Middle East/North Africa, and most recently, West Africa.  The Southeast European conference explored the idea of creating an informal branch of the PNoWB of interested parliamentarians from that region.