Following the discussion, the annual award of the RCC Secretariat for best achievement in cooperation in South East Europe, Champion of Regional Cooperation, will be inaugurated and presented by the RCC Secretary General, Goran Svilanovic. The first laureate is the Central European Free Trade Agreement - CEFTA 2006. A special acknowledgement for the promotion of cooperation in South East Europe will be awarded to Hido Biscevic, the first Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council, and to Erhard Busek, former Special Coordinator of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.

The panelists and special guests include: Goran Svilanović, RCC Secretary General; Zlatko Lagumdžija, Deputy Chair of the Council of Ministers/Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia and Herzegovina; Nickolay Mladenov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bulgaria; Nikola Poposki, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Chair-in-Office of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) in 2012-2013; Ovidiu Dranga, State Secretary for Political Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Romania, incoming Chair-in-Office of the SEECP; Kieran Dowling, Ambassador of Ireland to Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina; Stefano Sannino, Director General for Enlargement of the European Commission; and Vera Mavrić, State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Serbia, previous Chair-in-Office of the SEECP.

The RCC has been established on 27 February 2008 in Sofia, Bulgaria.

Source: email by Regional Cooperation Council