1. THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF DECIDING ON PRIORITIES: CUTTING PUBLIC SPENDING OR STIMULATING THE ECONOMY THE ROLE OF PARLIAMENTS IN THE PROCESS OF DECIDING ON PRIORITIES: CUTTING PUBLIC SPENDING OR STIMULATING THE ECONOMY AGENDA Regional Workshop of The Regional Network Of Parliamentary Committees for Economy and Finance of the Western Balkan Countries : Hosted by the Deputy President of the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Serbian Parliament Belgrade, Nikola Pašić Square 13 March 3rd, 2012 REPUBLIC OF SERBIA РЕПУБЛИКА СРБИЈА REPUBLIKA SRBIJA NATIONAL ASSEMBLY НАРОДНА СКУПШТИНА NARODNA SKUPŠTINA

2. Regional Network of Parliamentary Committees for Economy and Finance of the Western Balkan countries, was established at the Regional Parliamentary Conference in Belgrade (March 2009) with the aim of advancing the cooperation among the parliaments from this region. Cooperation among the parliamentary committees from this Network would initiate a cooperation process that, latter on, could evolve in some higher form of cooperation, not just between Parliamentary Committees for Economy and Finance, but cooperation between the parliaments in general. The objectives of the workshop are to: Discuss the possibilities for strengthening the capacity of parliamentary committees for economy and finances in order to play more important role in that process Discuss the dilemma: whether to give priority to cutting public spendings or stimulating the economy Discuss the Economic and political barriers to trade in the region Questions for discussion are : 1.Why the decisions on important economic issues are not made in the Parliament? 2.Why do we finance certain rights from the public funds and who decides on the rights to be financed? 3.Are there experts in the parliaments? 4.Do we need formal and informal channels towards experts? 5.How to develop regional cooperation planning in the parliaments?

3. Saturday, March 3 rd, 2012 8.00 Bus transfer from Hotel Balkan 8:30-9:00 REGISTRATION 9:00-9:30 WELCOME AND OPENING REMARKS Slavica Đukić Dejanović, President of the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Gordana Č omi ć, Deputy President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Dr. Michael Ehrke, Director, Friedrich Ebert Foundation Office in Belgrade Prof. Dr Dejan Erić, Director, Institute of Economic Sciences, Belgrade 9:30 – 11:30 1 st session STRENGTHENING THE CAPACITY OF PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES FOR ECONOMY AND FINANCES IN ORDER TO PLAY MORE IMPORTANT ROLE IN ECONOMIC POLICY DECISION MAKING PROCESS Moderator Gordana Č omi ć, Deputy President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Keynotes Slavica Penev, Senior Research Fellow, Institute of Economic Sciences, Belgrade: presentation of a background paper Beriz Belkić, former President of the House of Representatives, Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mira Grgić, Deputy President of the House of Representatives, Parliamentary Assembly of Bosnia and Herzegovina Marjančo Nikolov, Chairman of the Committee on Financing and Budget, Macedonian Parliament Discussion

4. 11:30-12:00 Coffee break 12.00-14:30 2 nd session WHETHER TO GIVE PRIORITY TO CUTTING PUBLIC SPENDINGS OR STIMULATING THE ECONOMY Moderator: Prof. Dr Dejan Erić, Director, Institute of Economic Sciences, Belgrade Keynote Fikret Čaušević, Faculty of Economics, Sarajevo: presentation of a background paper Aleksandar Damjanović, Chairman of the Committee for financial system and public consumption, Parliament of Montenegro Edmond Spaho, Chairman, Economy and Finance Committee, Parliament of Albania Danijela Martinović, Chairperson of the Committee for economic reforms and development, Parliamentary Assembly of Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina Branka Ljiljak, Deputy chairman, Finance Committee, the Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Discussion 14:30-15:30 Lunch hosted by Serbian Parliament 15.30-17.30 3 rd session ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL BARRIERS TO TRADE IN THE REGION : Moderator: Dr. Michael Ehrke, Director, Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Office in Belgrade Keynote Ahmet Mancelari, Faculty of Economics, Tirana :and Predrag Bijelić, Faculty of Economics, Belgrade presentation of a background paper Igor Radoičić, President, National Assembly of the Republic of Republika Srpska Ljubisav Ivanov Singo, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Economy, Macedonian Parliament

5. 17:30-18:00 Coffee break 18:00 – 19:00 Concluding remarks Gordana Čomić, Deputy President of the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia 19:00 – 21:00 Cocktail Dinner hosted by Gordana Čomić, Deputy President of the Assembly of the R of Serbia

6. IMPORTANT CONTACT DETAILS: Aleksandra Raskovic Tea National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia Trg Nikole Pasica 13, 11000 Beograd Cell: +381 66 214348 Email: aleksandra.tea76@gmail.com Ana Manojlovic Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Tel : +381 653283082 Hotel Balkan Olivera Ćaldović Reservations & Sales Prizrenska 2, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia tel. +381 11 36 36 000 fax. +381 11 26 87 581 mob. + 381 11 66 88 00 884 olivera.caldovic@balkanhotel.netolivera.caldovic@balkanhotel.net www.balkanhotel.netwww.balkanhotel.net