The Seventh Regular Meeting of the Prespa Park Coordination Committee (PPCC) was held in Oteshevo on 6-7 March 2005. The meeting was attended by Committee members (i.e. representatives from the Ministries of Environment, the local authorities and the local NGOs from all three countries, and the MedWet initiative permanent observer), as well as various stakeholders and donors.

 

The main topic on the agenda of the meeting was progress with the PDF B project, which started in November 2003 with funding by UNDP and KfW-German Bank for Reconstruction. The PDF B is a project preparation phase for a large multi-annual project on integrated ecosystem management in the Prespa Park basin, which will be submitted to the GEF (Global Environment Facility) for co-funding. In this regard, the PPCC decided that all efforts should be made for the successful submission of the project proposal to the GEF until the end of July 2005. Another important issue addressed in the meeting was the future adoption of a trilateral Ministerial Agreement for the Prespa Park, which has been drafted by the PPCC Secretariat and is under consideration by the Administration in the three countries. The Agreement foresees concrete commitments of the three states for the protection, management and sustainable development of the Prespa Park, the establishment of formal trilateral institutions and special provisions for joint actions on water resources management in the Prespa basin on the basis of the Water Framework Directive. During the meeting, the PPCC was also informed on various projects and activities that had taken place since its last meeting (Summer 2004) and noted that positive work had been done in all three countries towards protection and sustainable development of the area. The Committee furthermore approved a report on the implementation of its work plan for 2004 and endorsed the proposed Operational Plan and Programme of Activities 2005.

 

The next meeting of the Committee will be held in November 2005, in the Greek Prespa.