Activity Topic: 1. Presentation of to date operation of the Centre of Public Employment Services of Southeast European Countries and recommendations for its further work 2. Access to and use of IPA funds. Summary: The Conference confirmed the continuation of regional cooperation, underpinned by the Protocol of Partnership of Southeast European Public Employment Services (Sofia, 27 October 2006) and the Guidelines for Operation of the Centre (Belgrade, 31 May – 1 June 2007). The second part was focused on the presentations of the CPESSEC members’ experiences related to various pre-accession instruments.

Result: • The Centre should organise more workshops on expert level every year. The forthcoming workshops should focus on the concrete problems of the region. • Website updating should continue and include more data regarding the number of staff in the public employment services, the number of employees in departments and sectors of the public employment services, the legislative framework in the field of employment, etc • Each of the member countries shall update its respective part of the website, whereas the presiding member shall administer the general part of the website • The Centre will be used for exchange of experiences in the field of implementation of bilateral agreements regarding social insurance in the field of employment • With that respect, we need to draft and adopt the common single template for data exchange within the centre • Within the workshops on the expert level, the Centre will organise exchange of experiences in the field of employment of labour force, e.g. within the law on employment of foreigners from the members of the centre, or in the context of other regional pressing problems that represent a barrier for improved employment • Intensify exchange of experiences regarding implementation of projects and agree on the possibilities of joint utilisation of IPA funds – Multibeneficiary IPA • The presiding member of the centre shall finance the operation of the Centre during its mandate, administer the website of the Centre and cover the expenses of its experts with respect to participation in the experts' workshops • The activities of the Centre should be fully harmonised with the recommendations of the Employment Policy of EU • The Centre should transpose the experiences of certain international organizations and benefit from their readiness to support regional initiatives like this one • The members of the Centre should use all types of international financial assistance • The Centre should be a benchmark for other regions as an efficient modality for development of regional cooperation and solving common problems • By the end of 2008, Serbia will organise one more workshop on expert level with the topic of “Labour Migrations in Southeast Europe and EU Recommendations”