Currently, the Regional Cooperation council is in the process of selecting future staff for its main office in Sarajevo and for the Liaison Office in Brussels. Several people have already been appointed and started working in Sarajevo. Parallel to this process the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe will continue to function until June 2008 in order to assure the training of the new staff, as well as establishing operational links between numerous initiatives and the new structure of the Regional Cooperation Council.

In the field of education and research (Fostering and Building Human Capital) the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe continues to streamline and strengthen its regional initiatives, seeking to create a linkage between these initiatives and the new structure. In this regard, on the occasion of the 22nd session of the Standing Conference of European Ministers of Education that took place in Istanbul on May 4-5, 2007, and as a side event to the Conference on May 4, the Stability Pact organized the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministers responsible for Education, Science and Research in South Eastern Europe. All South Eastern European countries, except for Serbia, to this date signed this document. By adopting this document South Eastern European countries agreed that education, higher education, science and research are areas of key importance for the future of the South East European region and for the EU integration process of the Western Balkan countries. Furthermore, on 24 August 2007 a Declaration of Intent (DoI) to strengthen and deepen the Cooperation in Education, Science and Research with the aim to foster and build Human Capital in South Eastern Europe was signed in Alpbach, Austria. The signatories agreed to continue active engagement in the partnerships and activities initiated and lead by the Task Force Education and Youth of the Stability Pact as well as to widen the field of activities to the area of science and research in line with the Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministers responsible for Education, Science and Research of South Eastern Europe, signed in Istanbul in May 2007, and the Fostering and Building Human Capital priority area of the Regional Cooperation Council. Following the signing of the Declaration of Intent the Stability Pact and its Task Force Education and Youth offered to other countries of the region to sign a Proposal for the establishment of the Task Force Building Human Capital – aiming to expand the field of involvement of the Task Force to the area of research.

On the occasion of the 15th Meeting of the Working Tables of the Stability Pact, that took place in Tirana on 3rd December 2007, the Working Table I (Democracy), which is among other areas in charge of the portfolio of Fostering and Building Human Capital, took note of the positive reaction of the South Eastern European Ministries of Education and Research to the aforementioned Proposal. Moreover, the Working Table I underlined the significance of the new Task Force for creating awareness and for formulation of recommendations for the Regional Cooperation Council in the area of Human Capital. Furthermore, on this occasion the Stability Pact further entrusted the Chairmanship and Co-Chairmanship of the Task Force Education and Youth (i.e. Romania and Austria) with the coordination of activities that will lead to the elaboration of a profile and of a structure of the new Task Force Fostering and Building Human Capital, which is to be endorsed by April 2008.

As far as the main objective of the new Task Force are concerned it is to promote and facilitate regular meetings of high level/senior officials and senior experts from the education, higher education and research sectors of the South East European Cooperation Process region. These meetings should feed – where appropriate – into the regular meetings on ministerial level in education, higher education and research. With regards to the structure of the new Task Force, the Regional Cooperation Council, the signatories of the Memorandum of Understanding from Istanbul, the Task Force Education and Youth, the Members of the Education Reform Initiative of South Eastern Europe (ERI SEE) and the Steering Platform on Research for the Western Balkans are invited to participate in the meetings of the Task Force Building Human Capital as its founding members.

Two greatest challenges for the new Task Force Fostering and Building Human Capital will be, firstly to establish functional links with the Regional Cooperation Council and its Senior Expert in charge of this portfolio, and secondly to efficiently include the research portfolio into the operation of the new Task Force, since its predecessor Task Force Education and Youth did not, in the institutional sense, work in this field. Having said that, one is to be optimistic as far as the creation of the cohesive working atmosphere within the new Task Force is concerned, since in the past the Stability Pact extensively cooperated with the South Eastern European research initiatives, namely the Information Office of the Steering Platform on Research for the Western Balkan Countries. As far as the other initiatives of the Stability Pact are concerned the Education Reform Initiative for South Eastern Europe, with its seat in Zagreb, will retain a fundamental role in this process.

Source:
Dr. Srdjan Cvijic
Dr. Srdjan Cvijic is working as an expert for democratisation and human rights within the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe since 2005. The views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe.