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U.S. Department of State Office of the Spokesman Press Statement

Press Statement by James P. Rubin, Spokesman
April 29, 1999 (REVISED)

Southeast European Transport Ministers Sign Agreement

Ambassador Richard Schifter, Special Adviser to the Secretary of State for the Southeast European Cooperative Initiative (SECI), represented the United States at a ceremony in Athens on April 27 at which the transportation ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Greece, Hungary, Macedonia, Moldova, Romania and Turkey signed a Memorandum of Understanding committing their countries to the harmonization of their laws governing transport in the SECI region. Slovenia is expected to sign shortly. Implementation is to be completed by the end of 2002.

The transportation pact is the first formal agreement signed by the SECI countries. It is also the first concrete act of a planned comprehensive series of agreements under SECI to institutionalize regional economic and environmental cooperation.

Ambassador Schifter noted that "we believe in a Southeastern Europe that is at peace, stable, democratic, prosperous and respectful of individual rights." As President Clinton said on April 15 in San Francisco, "We need to intensify these efforts and to work with the European Union and the international financial institutions to mobilize more support for these countries. And we need to condition this help, just as we did with Western Europe 50 years ago, on closer cooperation among the beneficiaries and a new understanding of their sovereignty."

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