President Iliana Yotova will host the anniversary summit of the South East European Cooperation Process (SECP). The meeting will mark the 30th anniversary of the establishment of the regional cooperation format, initiated by Bulgaria in 1996. It will be held at the National Palace of Culture (NPC) in Sofia, the press secretariat of the head of state announced, BTA reports.
The high-level forum in Sofia is the final stage of the Bulgarian presidency of the SEECP, which our country took over from Albania last year. At the summit, Bulgaria will hand over the presidency for the next year to Romania.
President Iliana Yotova will welcome the heads of delegations from 12 SEECP member states and the Regional Cooperation Council.
Among the participants are the President of Slovenia Natasa Pirc Musar, the President of Albania Bajram Begaj, the President of Montenegro Jakov Milatović, the President of the Republic of North Macedonia Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, the Acting President of Kosovo Albulena Haxhiu and Denis Becirović - Chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The forum will also be attended by the Prime Minister of Moldova Alexandru Munteanu, the Prime Minister of Serbia Đuro Macut, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Georgios Gerapetritis, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Turkey Hakan Fidan, the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia Gordan Grlić Radman, as well as and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania Oana Coiu.
The meeting will also be attended by Amer Kapetanovic – the Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, which is the operational unit of the SEECP.
The heads of delegations will hold a plenary session, which will be opened by President Iliana Yotova. It will discuss a declaration on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the initiative and a discussion on the topic “Strengthening regional unity for a stable, secure and sustainable future“. After the end of the Summit, joint statements will be given to the media by the heads of delegations of the so-called troika – Albania, Bulgaria and Romania, which are the previous, current and incoming chairmen of the SEECP.
The SEECP is a regional platform for dialogue to build trust, cooperation and good neighborly relations in South-Eastern Europe. The initiative was launched in July 1996 in Sofia, when the Sofia Declaration on Good Neighborliness, Stability, Security and Cooperation in the Balkans was adopted at a meeting of the foreign ministers of eight SEE countries. Over the years, the number of participating countries has increased and today there are 13 - Albania, Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Kosovo, Moldova, Romania, the Republic of North Macedonia, Slovenia, Serbia, Turkey, Croatia, Montenegro, explained the press secretariat of the presidency.
Since the initiative was established, Bulgaria has assumed the one-year rotating chairmanship of the SEECP four times. On June 16, 2025, in Tirana, our country assumed the presidency, which was held under the motto “Compass towards stability, security and resilience“.
A meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the countries participating in the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) will be chaired today by Minister of Foreign Affairs Velislava Petrova, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) announced. The meeting is part of the final events within the framework of the Bulgarian presidency of the SEECP and will be held under the motto “Shared Compass for a Stable, Secure and Resilient Region - 30 Years of Regional Engagement and European Aspiration“.
The Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Kosovo, the Republic of Greece, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Albania, the Republic of North Macedonia and the Republic of Croatia will participate in it. Delegations from the Republic of Turkey, the Republic of Serbia, Romania, the Republic of Moldova, Montenegro and the Republic of Slovenia will also participate in the meeting.
The ministers will exchange views on key issues on the regional agenda, including the current situation in South-Eastern Europe, security challenges, as well as opportunities for strengthening regional cooperation and the European integration process.
Security and peace in the Black Sea region, as well as the role of the countries of South-Eastern Europe, were discussed on Monday by participants in a conference “Towards Shared Regional Security for Peace, Stability and Cooperation in the Balkans and the Black Sea“, dedicated to the SEECP.