Foreign Minister Nikola Poposki and Goran Svilanovic, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Counicl (RCC), held consultations Monday in Skopje on the activities within the South East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) under Macedonia's chairmanship-in-office 2012-2013, namely the regional cooperation in EU-integration processes and infrastructure projects.

"In this period we shall make efforts to define what we wish to be a vital part of the regional cooperation in the upcoming period. We hope to successfully attract larger attention in terms of financing the regional infrastructure," Poposki said.

It is important for Macedonia until June to contribute as SEECP chair to Europeanization of the regional relations, Poposki said. He believes that conclusions of the SEECP Foreign Ministers meeting in May and Summit of Heads of State and Government in June will set the basis for bolstering the regional cooperation and convincing the European partners to offer larger financial support for regional projects.

RCC current priority is to develop a strategy for regional cooperation by 2020, which is to be based on the EU one for the same period, Svilanovic said. The realization of this document relies on EU financial support and in particular the new Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance - (IPA) -2, which should be tailored for the absorbing potential of the countries of the region, Svilanovic said.

Poposki and Svilanovic said the projects included the completion of Corridor 8 and 10, as well as trans-border cooperation.

RCC is a regional cooperative framework for countries in South East Europe, with the goal of promoting mutual cooperation and European and Euro-Atlantic integration of South East Europe in order to inspire development in the region to the benefit of its people.