Ambassador Pigliapoco attends SEECP Ministerial in Tirana: Regional Cooperation Key to EU Future
Ambassador Fabio Pigliapoco, Head of the Adriatic Ionian Initiative Permanent Secretariat, participated in the concluding Ministerial Meeting of the Albanian Chairmanship of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP), held in Tirana on June 16, 2025.
The high-level event gathered Ministers and senior representatives from the 13 SEECP participating countries, alongside several regional organizations and initiatives including the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), Adriatic Ionian Initiative (AII), Central European Initiative (CEI), European External Action Service (EEAS), and the Western Balkans Fund.
The meeting marked the conclusion of Albania’s SEECP Chairmanship for the period July 2024 – June 2025, carried out under the motto “Shaping our European Future.” Albania’s leadership focused on three strategic priorities: strengthening political cooperation, accelerating economic integration, and achieving concrete progress on the path to European Union membership.
The SEECP currently includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, North Macedonia, Moldova, Montenegro, Romania, Serbia, Slovenia, Kosovo*, and Turkey. As a regionally owned process, SEECP continues to be a central platform for addressing shared challenges and advancing regional cooperation in South-East Europe.
A key message emerging from the discussions was the crucial role of regional cooperation in preparing for EU integration: “EU enlargement is not just a political process, but a strategic investment in peace and stability across Europe.”
The SEECP Chairmanship will now pass to Bulgaria, which will lead the process for the next term.