The first Regional Funding Conference took place on 29 and 30 March 2000 in Brussels. The Special Co-ordinator presented a "Quick Start Package" to the donor community. The Package consisted of some 200 projects, from all three working Tables, with a value of 1.8 billion Euros. Most of the projects in the Package were proposed by the south eastern European countries and in most cases involved more than one country. The implementation of the projects was to start within 12 months.

At the finance conference, the donor community undertook to provide approximately 2.4 billion Euros to finance the Quick Start projects. The sum pledged exceeded all expectations. Around 1.1 billion Euros were pledged by international financial institutions, over 500 million Euros from the central EU budget (via the European Commission), and the remainder by bilateral donors from the EU, G8 and other countries.

Projects from all three Working Tables are now being implemented. For Working Table I 460 million Euros has been pledged, and 80 million Euros has been pledged for Working Table III. On Working Table II, for example, all 35 infrastructure projects, as well as the package for the development of the private sector and the Table's environmental projects are covered by the money pledged. The return of refugees for example is being supported with 305 million Euros.

To ensure that all promises are fulfilled as rapidly as possible, the Special Co-ordinator has created a monitoring and assessment mechanism. All project managers carrying out the Quick Start projects regularly report to the Special Co-ordinator on the progress of implementation. This information is published on the Stability Pact web site. In accordance with the resolutions of the Funding Conference, infrastructure projects are examined by Working Table II in co-operation with the High-Level Steering Group. Additional projects can be regularly assessed and proposed for financing by the "Donor Network", which was brought into being by the Stability Pact. In November 2000, the High Level Steering group decided to hold the next regional funding conference as early as feasible in 2001. This proves the strong commitment of the International Community towards South Eastern Europe.