12th Meeting of Adriatic-Ionian Initiative in Italy

Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini is chairing the 12th Council of Ministers of the Adriatic-Ionian Initiative, AII, which began in Ancona, Italy on Wednesday.

The Council, which brings together the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Greece, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia and Italy, is aimed at preparing an EU strategy for the Adriatic-Ionian macro-region, and adopting a Ministerial Declaration and other related documents.

AII was launched in 2000 at the Ancona Conference on “Development and Security in the Adriatic and the Ionian Seas”, when the foreign ministers of six coastal countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy and Slovenia) adopted the “Ancona Declaration.”

Serbia and Montenegro joined the group of six countries in 2002, with both countries maintaining membership in the Initiative even after they became independent states in 2006.

The main goals of the Initiative include the strengthening of regional cooperation among Adriatic coastal countries, fostering common solutions to common problems with focus on security and stability, as well as the environmental protection of the Adriatic and Ionian Seas.

At this year’s meeting in Ancona, Montenegro is set to take over the one-year presidency of the regional initiative.