Summary of the Ministerial Meeting

Background

At the Geneva Trade Policy Forum on the 18th of January 2001, the governments of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia, Romania and Yugoslavia asked the Stability Pact Working Group on Trade Liberalisation and Facilitation to prepare a memorandum of understanding on a series of specific actions to liberalise and facilitate trade in the region. Negotiations, including a number of drafting meetings, were held by the Working Group between February and May in order to reach a comprehensive agreement.


Ministerial Meeting, Brussels, 27 June, 2001

The Stability Pact Office hosted a Ministerial meeting in Brussels on 27 June 2001. The meeting concluded with a formal Signing Ceremony for the Memorandum of Understanding on Trade Liberalisation and Facilitation. Moldova and the Signatories to the Memorandum also signed a Statement of intent on Moldova’s adhesion to the agreement.

Mr Fabrizio Saccomanni, Chairman of the Stability Pact Working Table II, chaired the meeting. The participants included ministers, ambassadors and senior trade policy officials from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Yugoslavia, Macedonia, Moldova and Romania. The EC Commissioner for Trade, Pascal Lamy and the US Ambassador to the EC, Richard Morningstar attended the event along with representatives from the World Bank, and the WTO, and officials from Hungary, Slovenia, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the USA.


Interventions

The Special Co-ordinator of the Stability Pact, Mr. Bodo Hombach congratulated the countries on this significant achievement, which aims to liberalise trade among the signatory countries, representing a market of 55 million inhabitants, by the end of 2002. The Special Co-ordinator noted that implementation of the Memorandum is now an urgent priority. He urged the countries of South Eastern Europe and the international community to maintain the level of commitment and the exemplary co-operation they have developed.

The Signatory Countries highlighted the importance of trade liberalisation to their economies and to the process of integration into EU structures, and they committed themselves to implementing the terms of the Memorandum. They thanked the Stability Pact office and the international community for their support stressing the need for continued technical and financial assistance. Moldova reiterated its commitment to abide by the terms of the Memorandum and looked forward to participating in the Working Group following its formal admittance to the Stability Pact.

The international community congratulated the Signatory Countries on the Memorandum of Understanding. Various speakers noted the importance of trade for economic prosperity and political stability and all offered their continued support for this important initiative. The USA stressed the need to ensure that net result of the various trade initiatives is trade enhancing both within and outside the region.

The EU Presidency and Commissioner Lamy both referred to the positive signals that the Memorandum provides regarding stability, increased regional co-operation and European integration. Commissioner Lamy emphasised the need for political commitment among the governments of the region to the trade liberalisation process and he confirmed the EC’s commitment to provide political, technical and financial support to this process.