Western Balkans

ILO and RCC to launch ‘Employment and Social Affairs Platform’ Project

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) are launching on Wednesday (29th of June) the “Employment and Social Affairs Platform” (ESAP) project at a one day Conference in Sarajevo. The ESAP project is supported by the European Commission’s Directorate General (DG) for Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion.

Media advisory | 27 June 2016
Goran Svilanoviċ, RCC Secretary General, Antonio Graziosi, Director of ILO Decent Work Technical Support Team and Country Office for Central and Eastern Europe and Thomas Bender, Head of Unit at European Commission’s DG Employment will open the launch of ESAP. The conference will continue with a brief presentation of ESAP by Vanja Ivoševiċ, RCC’s Senior Expert on Smart Growth and Cristina Mihes, Senior Specialist for Social Dialogue and Labour Law with the ILO.


The conference will bring together Ministers of Labour and Social Affairs from six economies of the Western Balkans and will include policy discussions on priority issues related to employment and labour markets in the region as well as two panel discussions – “Fostering youth employment - a main challenge and important opportunity for the future”, and “Better labor market governance - a shared responsibility”.

The “Employment and Social Affairs Platform” (ESAP), is a regional project financed by the European Commission to the tune of 3 million Euro and will be jointly implemented by RCC and ILO in Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo (as defined by the UN Security Council Resolution 1244), Montenegro, Serbia and The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The project aims to strengthen regional cooperation and institutional capacities of national administrations, employers’ and workers’ organizations, enabling them to develop and effectively implement labour market and social policy reforms in their EU enlargement process.

Journalists are invited to take part at the Conference launch on Wednesday, 29 June 2016, starting at 9.30, at the ‘Banja Luka’ meeting room of the Bristol Hotel, Fra Filipa Lastrica 2, Sarajevo. After the formal opening part of the Conference there will be a 30 minute dedicated opportunity for press statements and interviews from 10.30 – 11.00. Please find a detailed agenda attached. We kindly ask media representatives to arrive 30 minutes prior to the official start of the Conference in order to finalize all technical preparations in time.

For more information contact Nenad Sebek, Spokesperson, Regional Cooperation Council, tel: +387 33 561 710, fax: +387 33 561 701, mob: +387 62 330 576, e-mail: nenad.sebek@rcc.int, website: www.rcc.int or Edit Horvath, Communication Assistant, International Labour Organization, at horvathd@ilo.org, www.ilo.org/budapest.