The meeting was an opportunity to summarize major achievements in the work of the Task Force in the past year and to decide upon next steps.

It was concluded as follows:
The TFBHC leadership will be guided by the following action lines until the end of the current mandate aimed at furthering Human Capital Development in South Eastern Europe:

• To  maintain  and  improve  coordination  between  regional  stakeholders  and initiatives in the field of Human Capital Development
• To foster regional cooperation around common areas of interest
• To  promote  Human  Capital  Development  as  the  essential  factor  in  sustainable economic development, social cohesion and inclusion, as well as innovation

TFBHC  positively  assessed  initial  achievements  and  developments  within  the  regional TF/ERI  SEE  Clusters  of  Knowledge  on  current  topics:  Vocational  Education  and Training,  Evidence-based  Policy  Making  in  Education  and  National  Qualification Frameworks. The TFBHC members agreed  to continue  their  cooperation  around Clusters and to jointly support their further developments, also in view of developing concrete regional
projects.
The  TFBHC  leadership  and  all  Members  shall  promote  synergies  between  education, science, innovation and research and regional initiatives (ex. ERI SEE) and strategies (ex. EUSDR) dealing  with  those  subjects  and  shall  put  a  focus  on  innovation and  a  coherent project- and result-oriented work.
In particular, the TFBHC and the RCC, in close cooperation with Serbia as the host country, will support the further development of the Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) as a platform for regional cooperation in education and training and a potential implementing structure for EU funded regional projects. A milestone in this process will be the envisaged setting up of the international ERI SEE Secretariat in Belgrade.
The  EC  representative  confirmed  the  growing  interest  on  part  of  the  EC  for  issues pertaining  to  education  and  science in  the  WB and  assured  that  the  EC  will  continue supporting  projects  that  contribute  to  achieving  goals  of  EU2020.  Additionally,  the  EC proposed to develop a Western Balkans Platform on education and training, based on the open method of coordination, to allow for the participation of all enlargement countries.
The TF aims at further enhancing cooperation and exchange with the EU. As a specific activity discussion meeting shall be held with key actors (e.g. TF, ERI SEE, ETF, EC, RCC) about key issues in Human Capital Development in South Eastern Europe in the European Parliament.
The  TFBHC  Capacity  Building  Mobility Programme for  civil  servants  from  Ministries  of Education, Science and Research will be further developed in light of the growing interest of the SOE region for this programme.
The TFBHC follow-up event to the 2009 Bucharest conference envisaged for  autumn 2012 will  be  organized  as  a  brokerage  meeting  with  a  clear  shift  towards  greater  regional ownership during which the regional players will be given an opportunity to jointly develop regional projects within the Human Capital Development field.

Further information - minutes to the meeting, list of participants and some supporting documents - are attached to the related event entry (see wbc-inco.net calendar, past events - link below).

Source: information by the Task Force Secretariate.