Regional meeting on "visa issue"

Sunday, 18 November 2007

The Citizens Pact for South-Eastern Europe with consultancy by and coordinated with ESI has organized the regional workshop on Visa Policy in the Western Balkan Region that took place in Novi Sad (Serbia), on 19 21st October 2007. This workshop served as kick off for a regional Western Balkan research on visa regimes. Goal was to bring young researchers from the Western Balkans together, to link up young researchers from Western Balkan countries and create a network and regional cooperation on issues of joint interest. Participants at the workshop were members of think-tanks in the Western Balkan cooperating with and supported by ESI: Reaktor and CRPM - Skopje, Agenda Institute - Tirana, Populari - Sarajevo, Kosovar Stability Initiative - Prishtina and CP Initiative Novi Sad; representatives of Serbian government:  Sanja Mrvaljevic (the Serbian European Integration Office), Miroslav Prcovic (Consular Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Serbia) and regional and European organizations: Peter Arbenz,(private  consultant,  Winterthur - Switzerland, former director of the Swiss Office for   Refugees in the Ministry of Justice and Police), Cecilia Lundström (Programme Manager Visa, The International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), Vienna, Austria), Gerald Knaus and Eggert Hardten (European Stability Initiative), group 484 from Belgrade. The meeting helped to initiate joint coordinated action among groups in the different countries to work on visa abolishment to the European Union. Informal white list group is formed witch will gather information and start regional research. The participants concluded to work together in the coming year on presenting their arguments for visa liberalisation and to push for the conditions that will need to be met to make it possible both in the region of the Western Balkans and in the EU. The workshop was a part of the project Fresh mind for new policy supported by the Balkan Trust for Democracy (a project of German Marshall Fund).

 

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