TIRANA – The Memorandum of Understanding recently signed by the Western Balkans Fund and the Regional Youth Cooperation Office (RYCO) in Tirana will help the two organizations to further enhance already very good relations and strengthen cooperation in the Western Balkan region.
The ceremony took place in the WBF premises in Tirana, in the presence of high officials from the ministries of foreign affairs of the Western Balkans 6, European diplomats, representatives of civil society organizations and media.
Signing the document is an important political regional development with practical benefits for these organizations, as they both represent the goodwill of the WB6 for a better and prosperous region.
In an interview with the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), the WBF senior expert and program manager, Aleksandar Vesić, explained the importance of the political document and its benefits to the regional cooperation and good neighbourly relations.
Vesić said the document means that the two sister organizations will strengthen cooperation in the future, with youth playing a central role in changing not only the relations among countries in the region, but also mentalities and opinions about each other.
“Today is very important to us. We have signed a Memorandum of Understanding between two sister agencies. What does it mean? It actually means that we will now cooperate in the future, we will share results and findings. This Memorandum will enable us to avoid overlapping projects and actions, but it will also enable to synergize, multiply our actions and look for models for future cooperation,” Aleksandar Vesić told ATA.
Vesic went on pointing out that RYCO cooperates with youth, targeting regional cooperation in the Western Balkans to better know, cooperate and interact with each other.
“Such initiatives are very important to us and when we cooperate their impact is much higher. Very important to us though is that today we have finalized the call for proposals and today is the last day for the submission of proposals,” he added.
The Western Balkans Fund is an international organization established by the governments of the WB Countries, namely Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, to promote cooperation, boost cooperation between its members, to strengthen relations and regional cohesion, to advance integration into the European Union. WBF also supports common regional projects and by bringing people to share mutual experiences and be aware of values, traditions and culture of their respective countries.
Last month, WBF organized at the Albanian Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs in Tirana the first Info Session, related to the Call for Regional Project proposals.