RYCO in Montenegro Meets Vice President of Government of Montenegro

PODGORICA – Head of RYCO Local Branch Office in Montnegro Mr Edin Koljenović met with Vice President of the Government of Montenegro Mr Dritan Abazović on Tuesday in Podgorica. The goal of the meeting was to present RYCO’s achievements since its establishment within the Berlin Process in 2016 and to discuss possibilities for future cooperation between RYCO and Government of Montenegro especially in the light of its upcoming chairmanship over the RYCO Governing Board.

One of the main conclusions of the meeting was that the Regional Youth Cooperation Office is an excellent mechanism for youth networking in the Western Balkans aimed at fostering their cooperation, and improving youth policies on the national level.

Mr Koljenović said that in the past few years, RYCO has managed to achieve many tangible results by diligently working on building a more enabling environment for young people to engage in activities that strengthen mutual understanding and reconciliation throughout the region.

“The concrete products of this endeavour were over 100 awarded projects focusing on strengthening youth cooperation, reconciliation conducted by high schools and CSOs throughout the region, that provided chances for more than 10,000 young people to engage in these programmes,” Mr Koljenović stated.

He added that besides implementation of the regional grant schemes, the Local Branch Office in Montenegro was devoted to building partnerships with important national and international stakeholders at the local level. Mr Koljenović also pointed out a number of good practices and initiatives started by the Local Branch Office that could be applied also to the regional level, where he sees the possibility for synergies and involvement of RYCO and the WB6 governments in order to achieve better results when it comes to youth cooperation and youth policy in the Western Balkans.

Mr Abazović said that the Government of Montenegro is dedicated to improving youth policies in Montenegro and available for all initiatives which are directed to the intensification of cooperation and strengthening of youth’s position in the region. He underlined the importance of Montenegro taking over the chairmanship of the RYCO Governing Board in 2021 and pointed out the chance for Montenegro to send a strong message of cooperation and good neighbourly relations through work and investment in young people in the upcoming period.

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