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Promoting Regional Cooperation in Southeast Europe

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Press Statements   |   Fact Sheets   |   Related Sites  

Policy Overview

The United States is strongly committed to the stabilization and revitalization of Southeast Europe and to creating the conditions for its integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions. To advance this objective, the United States joined with European partners last summer to launch the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe. The Pact aims to strengthen democratization, economic development and security in Southeast Europe through regional cooperation. U.S. priorities within the Stability Pact are to promote trade and investment, attack crime and corruption, hasten refugee returns, support democracy and respect for human rights, and strengthen regional security cooperation.

The United States also promotes regional cooperation through continued support for the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI); provision of technical assistance and feasibility studies to prepare regional infrastructure projects for European or international financial institution (IFI) investment; assistance to southeast European states on WTO accession, commercial law, and trade development; support for microenterprise; and efforts to develop a regional labor market and strategies for labor redeployment.

The United States has taken several important steps to support the Stability Pact's objectives and implement commitments made by the President at the July 1999 Sarajevo Summit, as well as to advance ongoing efforts within the OSCE and NATO that promote regional stability and cooperation. These efforts are in addition to the role the United States is playing in fostering peace and security in Kosovo and Bosnia.

Remarks and Briefings

Press Statements

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