1. BULGARIA’S EXPERIENCE WITH REGIONAL COOPERATION IN SOUTH-EAST EUROPE Veneta Petrova National Statistical Institute of Bulgaria MGSC, 24-25 March 2011, Luxembourg

2. Regional Cooperation as part of priority “Development of European Partnership and International Cooperation” Review of the Strategy for Development of the National Statistical System of the Republic of Bulgaria 2008 – 2012 2

3. BNSI Regional Cooperation 1. Development of bilateral cooperation – long-term priority task of NSI policy 1.1 Agreements for bilateral cooperation with the Balkan countries – Romania (1997), the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (2000) Croatia (2004) 1.2Official and working visits – more than 35 visits and participation in the different statistical activities in the region 1.3 Forms of Bilateral cooperation – basis for the enlargement of regional international activities 3

4. 2. Establishment of South-Eastern Co-operation Informal meeting of the Directors General of the National Statistical Offices of the Balkan countries, Bansko, Bulgaria, 2008 – by the participation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania and Turkey Survey among the NSI for identifying priority areas and form of cooperation 4

5. 3. BNSI participation in the initiatives of South- Eastern Cooperation 1 st Meeting of the South East European Group on statistical cooperation, Budva, 2009 in the framework of PGSC Meeting Participants: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Romania and Turkey Agenda –Review of the meeting in Bansko –Results from the survey on statistical cooperation in Bansko –Discussions on the next steps for the South East Group for Statistical Cooperation –Eurostat proposals for the development of South Eastern Cooperation in the framework of EU Accession Main results –Organization of Joint Conference on Agricultural Statistics in Skopje, 2010 –Training of young statisticians, study visits –Group of Directors General was elected to elaborate concrete plans for co- operation – Bulgaria, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Croatia, Romania 5

6. BNSI participation in the initiatives of South- Eastern Cooperation 2 nd Meeting of the South East European Group on statistical cooperation, Sarajevo, 2010 in the framework of PGSC Participants: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Turkey Agenda –results achieved for the period 2009 – 2010 –next steps for the South East Group for Statistical Cooperation were identified to organize a biannual regional conference was taken ( for 2012 the proposed topic is Census of population ) to exchange of experience between MS and CC and potential CC on the harmonization of statistical methodology with the acquis to organize study visits with the participation of the experts from Bulgaria, Greece and Romania in the field of System of National Accounts 6

7. Benefits and goals of the regional cooperation successful instrument for the development of full value cooperation between EU Member States and the candidate and potential candidate countries strengthening the role of official statistics in the countries from the South East Europe improving the comparability of statistical data joint participation in the regional cooperation programmes and development To develop statistical literacy in the region To present better the interest of the region in the international statistical community 7

8. Key factors for successful regional cooperation common goals similar cultures and history similarity of social development open initiative 8

9. Main features of South Eastern Co-operation No need for formal agreement among countries Based on the concrete actions to be discussed annually The cooperation to be viewed of the process of EU accession of the countries from the region Open initiative 9

10. Future Initiatives and Forms for Regional Co-operation Further BNSI participation in the initiatives for regional cooperation as a priority task of NSI policy, including: active participation in the work of the South East European Group on statistical cooperation participation in bilateral and multilateral meetings participation in joint projects in the field of statistics participation in joint training activities exchange of experts and know-how preparation of joint publications on specific topics development of common modules of statistical surveys seeking funding from other donors to finance the implementation of these activities, the role of the European Commission 10

11. Thank you for the attention! 11