Dear Minister Bushati,
Honorable Ministers,
Dear Colleagues,
Thank you very much for your trust, in appointing me as the first Executive Director of the Western Balkans Fund, which I consider as a great honor anda huge responsibility, as well!
Let me assure you,dear ministers, that I will be totally devoted and fully committed to meet your trust and expectationsfor making our Fund an effective mechanism of cooperation for our region.
The Western BalkansFund is the first, all-inclusive and regionally owned initiativewith a special identity, emphasized by its mission: Promotion of regional cooperation and cohesion, integration to the European Unionandthe overall development of the civil society organizations.By strengthening people to people contacts and the youth mobility in our region, the Fund aims to achieve these goals by supporting common regional projects aiming to share values, traditions and culturalexperiences.
The transformation of this important initiative into a success story is our task and our principal objective. For my part, I will be totally devoted and fully committed to materialize your will, by doing my best to reach the desired results.
Dear Ministers,
In the next months, constant, concrete and creative work will be needed by all of usto make the Fund known, easily accessible from everywhere in the region and a distinct part of the regional cooperation landscape.
This will require your valuable andcontinued support, as well.
I am really confident that the will of cooperation and the abilityshown during the first phase of WBF operations, will lead us to a successful implementation of our objectives and the outline of concrete activity plans for the near future.
There are many people Iwould like to thank today and not sure I can mention them all. But, let me express my deepest gratitude to the MFA of Albania and personally to Minister Bushati, for their active supportand guidance and for creating the best working conditions for the WBF Secretariat, as the first Regional Center with headquarters in Tirana.
Also, my most sincere thanks goes to the colleagues diplomat,representing contracting partiesto the WBF Committee of Senior Officials.Fortheir partnership and friendship,willingness and dedication in sustain the concrete and sometimes perplexing WBF needs, up to this moment.
Let me conclude dear Ministers,by reassuring you, that I will do everything I can, faithful to the Agreement, in objectivity, neutrality, transparency and fairness for the consolidation of this tangible expression of headway of the regional cooperation processes in the Western Balkans!
I know I can rely on your trust,continued support and encouragement, which, I have no doubt, will make my task easier.
Thank You!