Мeeting of the Transnational Demographic Expert Network of the SEECP participating countries
Today, November 13, 2017, in the Centre for Human Resource Development and Regional Initiatives started the founding meeting of the Transnational Demographic Expert Network of the SEECP participating countries. The development of such a network is a part of the goals set out in the Ministerial Declaration adopted by the 2016 European Council, Sofia International Conference "Addressing Demographic Challenges in the SEECP Participating Countries".
Representatives of the United Nations Population Fund, the Regional Cooperation Council and the ILO International Training Center attended the meeting. Participation will also take experts from institutions involved in demographic issues from Bulgaria, Kosovo, Macedonia, Slovenia, Turkey, Montenegro, Moldova (via skype connection) and Serbia (presenting by absence).
Deputy Minister of Labor and Social Policy, PhD Sultanka Petrova, opened the event and stressed the importance of the cooperation between the Southeast European countries to overcome the serious demographic challenges they face.
The meeting will be held until November 17 this year and the results of the first comparative study conducted by a team of Bulgarian researchers from the Institute for Population and Human Studies at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences in the period May - July 2017 will be presented during the five - day program on the current demographic changes and challenges for the SEECP participating countries.
A report on project funding opportunities for SEECP participating countries for the implementation of joint projects addressing demographic challenges in Southeast Europe will be presented, as well as a presentation and discussion of a modular training program entitled "Managing demographic change and development of the workforce ". The program aims to enhance the capacity of the demographic task force to support the development of the workforce in the context of modern demographic change management and is intended for a wide range of representatives of public administrations in the social and labor market of participating countries in the SEECP, whose work is directly related to the formulation and implementation of policies on resolving demographic problems, as well as experts from research organizations, non-governmental organizations, social partners working on labor market issues and the development of the workforce.
Good practices and useful experience from joint projects will be discussed during the meeting in response to demographic changes in the SEECP participating countries and the rules and procedures for the operation of TDEN will be discussed.
At the end of the event, the priorities for working together in 2018 will be outlined.