Skopje, 14 December 2023 (MIA) – Defence Minister Slavjanka Petrovska is to deliver opening remarks at the regional conference ‘Peace and Prosperity in the Western Balkans’ taking place December 14-15 in Skopje.

The regional conference is organized by the Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) and the SMART Balkans Project.

Kristin Melsom, Ambassador of the Kingdom of Norway to Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia, Marija Risteska, CRPM Executive Director and SMART Balkans project manager and program manager of the Center for the Promotion of Civil Society in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Dajana Cvjetković will also address the event, as announced by the organisers.

The conference is addressing the Specific Objective 2 of the SMART Balkans project that works towards developed strong regional partnerships between civil society organizations from the region of the Western Balkans (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Kosovo, North Macedonia and Serbia) and with their EU counterparts and public authorities. This will result in progress in forming cooperative relations between CSOs in the region and using regional experiences, know-how and examples for joint advocacy of solutions to the government and government institutions in the fields of policy and social planning, as well as governing.

SMART Balkans Project, funded by the Norway Ministry of Foreign Affairs, is implemented by a consortium of organizations: Center for the Promotion of Civil Society from Bosnia and Herzegovina as a Lead Applicant, in partnership with Center for Research and Policy Making (CRPM) from North Macedonia, and Institute for Democracy and Mediation (IDM) from Albania.

Photo: MIA archive