Excellent Cooperation with Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Development Cooperation Projects
Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, dr. Miro Cerar and CEF Director, Ms. Jana Repanšek met at the working meeting to discuss international development cooperation projects implemented by the CEF in cooperation with Slovenian Ministry of Foreign Affairs at the Western Balkans. Sustainable development of partner countries in the Western Balkans and their accession to the EU is one of the priorities of Slovenian international development cooperation, where the CEF is a major contributor through professional trainings for public officials in the areas of public financial management and central banking.
The CEF was established by the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in 2001 within the framework of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and is one of the most successful implementers of development cooperation projects of the Republic of Slovenia. CEF activities and projects support economic governance reforms in the Western Balkan countries and their accession processes to the European Union. Currently, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the CEF cooperate in two projects in Montenegro: the training of the third generation of public accountants (together with Slovakia) and the training of the fourth generation of public sector internal auditors (together with Germany). A project in Northern Macedonia is planned for the next two years.
“CEF implements a state-of-the-art training program for civil servants from public institutions in the Western Balkans and other Southeast European countries. The Republic of Slovenia is the most important supporter of the CEF. Co-operation with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is key to the excellent results that we are achieving together in the Western Balkans, " said CEF Director, Jana Repanšek.
Minister Cerar emphasized that "projects implemented by the CEF in the Western Balkans are examples of good practice and concrete assistance of Slovenia to the region in the association and stabilization process and show Slovenia's commitment to the European perspective of the region. The European perspective of the region remains Slovenia's top priority. Slovenia together with Austria initiated a letter that 15 EU member states addressed to the President of the European Commission, Juncker, the new President of the European Commission, Van der Leyen, the President of the European Parliament, Sassoli and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign and Security Policy, Mogherini in which they called for a debate that could in March 2020 lead to a consenus on the start of the accession negotiations with Albania and Northern Macedonia and called the European Commission to come up with a proposal for a more effective enlargement process by January 2020. "