IPO AT IMPORTANT CONFERENCE IN ROME

IPO Executive President Dr. Tomori Mareglen and the President of IPO Section Montenegro, M.Sc. Ivan Pekić participated on December 7 in the Conference entitled "BALKAN AND BLACK SEA PERSPECTIVES 2022", organized by NATO Defense College Foundation, under the auspices of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

The President of NATO Defense College Foundation, Ambassador Alessandro Minuto Rizzo opens the floor for the event Balkan and Black Sea Perspectives 2022: “The region has always been crucial for European security, at the crossroads of many interests and ambitions. The Balkan and Black Sea Region should become part of the Euro-Atlantic community. I underline that NATO and the European Union have been working hand in hand according to their added value and in the same direction, the one of inclusion”.

In the 1st Session, had into the thick of the discussion.

Chaired by Ivan Vejvoda, the experts will be exploring the current state and future perspectives of the region's path towards Euro-Atlantic integration for the next hour.

The event’s Opening Session continues with an intervention by Pasquale Terracciano, Director General for Public and Cultural Diplomacy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Italian Republic, partner for the event: "Russian is the most serious disrupting factor with maritime great power competition dimension in the Black Sea as a bridge to the Mediterranean, but international interplay, pervasive organized crime, and democratic evolution in the area are closely connected.

Italian Foreign minister, Hon. Antonio Tajani announced his intention to convene major Balkan players in Rome maybe by March 2023."

The 2nd Session delves into specific security challenges and fragilities in regional governance: Harun Karčić, Mădălina Mocan, Sem Fabrizi, and Ana Đurnić will discuss the influence of organized crime in the area and what possible role of international actors in tackling it.

The third and last session was dedicated to fragile democracies in the area: what policies and resources can help consolidate them and enhance their resilience?

On stage: Ambassador Yannis-Alexis Zepos, North Macedonia Deputy Prime Minister in charge for Good Governance Policies Slavica Grkovska, Alba Cela (Albanian Institute for International Studies), and Francesco Martino (Osservatorio Balcani Caucaso Transeuropa.

Every year since 2014, the NATO Defence College Foundation dedicates a high-level event to the most relevant trends unfolding in the Western Balkans and South Eastern Europe, including the important Black Sea region.

Within the framework of the NDCF regional project Strategic Balkans, the aim was to promote an informed debate on an area whose security and stability are deeply connected to the ones of the Euro-Atlantic community. Today more than ever.

Gathering 15 regional specialists who provided first-hand insights on the area, the initiative was structured into three panels and discussed:

-The Euro-Atlantic integration process

-Tools and reforms to address grey areas in the regional governance

-Fragile democracies and how to consolidate them

The working language was English and the event was live-streamed as well.

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