Goran Svilanoviċ, RCC Secretary General, Antonio Graziosi, Director of ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team and CountryOffice for Central and Eastern Europe and Thomas Bender, Head of Unit at European Commission’s DG Employment will open the launch of ESAP. The conference will continue with a brief presentation of ESAP by VanjaIvoševiċ, RCC’s Senior Expert on Smart Growth and Cristina Mihes, Senior Specialist for Social Dialogue and Labour Law with the ILO.

The ministerial conference will bring together relevant government representatives from six economies of the Western Balkans and will include policy discussions on priority issues related to employment and labour markets in the region as well as two panel discussions – “Fostering youth employment - a main challenge and important opportunity for the future”, and “Better labour market governance - a shared responsibility”.

The “Employment and Social Affairs Platform” (ESAP), is a regional project financed by the European Commission to the tune of 3 million Euro and will be jointly implemented by RCC and ILO in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo*, Montenegro, Serbia and The Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The project aims to strengthen regional cooperation and institutional capacities of national administrations, employers’ and workers’ organisations, enabling them to develop and effectively implement labour market and social policy reforms in their EU enlargement process.

Source: RCC