The First Meeting of the Heads of the National Security Authorities of the South East European Countries

Sofia, 25-27 May 2011

 

Upon the initiative of the EU Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) Secretariat and the Bulgarian State Commission on Information Security, the First Meeting of the South East European National Security Authorities took place on May 25, 2011 in Sofia under the topic “Regional Cooperation in the Field of the Functioning of the System for the Protection of Classified Information – Practice and Challenges, Faced by the South East Europe Countries”.

The meeting was attended by the heads and representatives of the National Security Authorities of the Republic of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Bulgaria, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Macedonia, the Republic of Moldova, the Republic of Montenegro, Romania, the Republic of Slovenia and the Republic of Serbia. The meeting was also attended by Mr. Hido Biščevič, the RCC Secretary General, Mr. David Galloway, Deputy Director-General of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and Mr. Giuseppe Benassi, the Head of the Policy Oversight Branch of the NATO Office of Security. Mr. Efrem Radev, the RCC Senior Security Expert, had the role of a co-chair during the working session.

During the official program and the unofficial meetings among participants a number of issues were discussed related to the functioning of the system for the protection of classified information in the countries in the region, the problems faced, the practical experiences from the mutual cooperation, as well as the necessity and the possibilities for enhancing such cooperation at the regional level. The meeting of the South East European National Security Authorities was assessed to be a useful and one of the essential tools to contribute to the enhancing of the established cooperation among the competent services and to the development of regional security cooperation initiatives.

At the margins of the meeting in Sofia, the delegation of the Directorate for Security of Classified Information had bilateral meetings with the delegations of the National Security Authorities of the Republic of Albania, the Republic of Serbia and Romania. The meetings included discussions on issues related to the already established cooperation at the bilateral level, as well as to the future activities for entering into bilateral negotiations with the countries that such cooperation has not been established with yet.

Furthermore, the meetings involved discussions on the conclusions from the First Meeting of the South East European National Security Authorities. As a result, the necessity for increased regional cooperation in the field of the functioning of the system for the protection of classified information, supplemented by initiatives for entering into mutual agreement cooperation and joint training of the experts from the relevant services, was confirmed once again.

The final document of the First Meeting of the South East European National Security Authorities included the assessment that such meeting should be held on regular basis. The NSA of the Republic of Slovenia offered to host the next meeting when concrete steps will be determined for evaluation of the set working topics on the first meeting.