Regional leaders to meet in Slovenia

BELGRADE An informal meeting of regional leaders will be held on Thursday at Brdo pri Kranju in Slovenia in the presence of French President Francois Hollande. The Serbian delegation is headed by President Tomislav Nikolic, who will also meet one-on-one with Hollande. Regional leaders to meet in Slovenia The "Brdo process" was organized at the joint initiative of the Slovenian and Croatian presidents, Borut Pahor and Ivo Josipovic. The gathering will start with a plenary session set for 11 am, after which Pahor and Hollande will address the press. Participants are also expected to produce a declaration, it was announced. The list of participants also includes the presidents of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic, Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov, Albania Bujar Nishani, members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency Zeljko Komsic, Nebojsa Radmanovic and Bakir Izetbegovic, a high-level EU representative, and Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga. This is the fourth time that Nikolic and Jahjaga are attending the same event. They first met in Brussels on February 6 at the office of EU High Representative Catherine Ashton. Later both presidents attended the Central Europe summit in Bratislava and the celebrations of Croatia's EU accession in Zagreb. Regional media have called the presence of the French president at the summit a positive surprise and a very important message, as he is the leader of a country which has not been particularly supportive of EU enlargement of late. According to a release on Hollande's official website, the French president is paying an official visit to Slovenia on Thursday, during which he will join the regional leaders. His agenda also includes bilateral meetings with Nikolic, Vujanovic, Ivanov, Nishani and Jahjaga. The purpose of the summit is discussing the future pace of EU enlargement, finding the capacities for solving open issues within the region and defining priority economic and infrastructure projects in the common interest of the whole region, the Croatian president's office said in a release. According to regional media, the event should in a way mark the formal launch of an initiative for assisting countries in the region on their way to the EU, which should result in at least one summit at the same level in the presence of a president of a major EU power. The meeting is a continuation of an informal political dialogue among regional and EU leaders at the highest level, which was agreed at a working breakfast attended by the presidents of the countries in the region at the office of the Croatian president on July 1, the day when Croatia joined the EU. At the same time, the meeting at Brdo pri Kranju is also an extension of a similar initiative launched in 2010 by then-prime minister and now president of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, together with Croatian prime minister at the time Jadranka Kosor. (Tanjug, file) Tanjug

Regional leaders to meet in Slovenia

The "Brdo process" was organized at the joint initiative of the Slovenian and Croatian presidents, Borut Pahor and Ivo Josipovic.

The gathering will start with a plenary session set for 11 am, after which Pahor and Hollande will address the press. Participants are also expected to produce a declaration, it was announced.

The list of participants also includes the presidents of Montenegro Filip Vujanović, Macedonia Gjorge Ivanov, Albania Bujar Nishani, members of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency Željko Komšić, Nebojša Radmanovic and Bakir Izetbegović, a high-level EU representative, and Kosovo Atifete Jahjaga.

This is the fourth time that Nikolić and Jahjaga are attending the same event.

They first met in Brussels on February 6 at the office of EU High Representative Catherine Ashton. Later both presidents attended the Central Europe summit in Bratislava and the celebrations of Croatia's EU accession in Zagreb.

Regional media have called the presence of the French president at the summit a positive surprise and a very important message, as he is the leader of a country which has not been particularly supportive of EU enlargement of late.

According to a release on Hollande's official website, the French president is paying an official visit to Slovenia on Thursday, during which he will join the regional leaders. His agenda also includes bilateral meetings with Nikolić, Vujanović, Ivanov, Nishani and Jahjaga.

The purpose of the summit is discussing the future pace of EU enlargement, finding the capacities for solving open issues within the region and defining priority economic and infrastructure projects in the common interest of the whole region, the Croatian president's office said in a release.

According to regional media, the event should in a way mark the formal launch of an initiative for assisting countries in the region on their way to the EU, which should result in at least one summit at the same level in the presence of a president of a major EU power.

The meeting is a continuation of an informal political dialogue among regional and EU leaders at the highest level, which was agreed at a working breakfast attended by the presidents of the countries in the region at the office of the Croatian president on July 1, the day when Croatia joined the EU.

At the same time, the meeting at Brdo pri Kranju is also an extension of a similar initiative launched in 2010 by then-prime minister and now president of Slovenia, Borut Pahor, together with Croatian prime minister at the time Jadranka Kosor.