LJUBLJANA – The European Commission and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) met with ministers and officials from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia at the Center of Excellence in Finance in Ljubljana, Slovenia on May 26, 2016.
The purpose of the meeting was to review the EU-financed capacity development programme “Strengthening Economic Governance and Public Financial Management in Southeast Europe”, currently being implemented by the IMF in the six countries. Specific issues discussed included progress in implementation of the existing work plan, the strategic direction of the programme and related capacity development priorities, as well as the work plan for the year ahead.
In this context, meeting participants discussed reform priorities identified by the beneficiary countries under their respective Economic Reform Programmes. The emphasis was on how best to ensure that the EU-financed IMF capacity development initiative can support the countries in implementing these reforms by strengthening both public financial management and revenue administration systems. Participants agreed on the need to closely coordinate with other partners working in the region such as the World Bank and the OECD, also attending the meeting.