Meeting of ECDC network of National Correspondents in EU enlargement countries
Since 2008 ECDC has been working with the EU enlargement countries (Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo[1], Montenegro, Serbia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey) to support and strengthen their capacities to participate in ECDC activities.
In the framework of ECDC technical cooperation activities supported by the European Commission under the Instrument of Pre-accession Assistance (IPA), experts from Western Balkan countries and Turkey have been regularly invited as observers in a number of disease network meetings and technical discussions related to epidemic intelligence and communicable disease surveillance and control. ECDC relations with the EU enlargement countries are organised via the National ECDC Correspondents.
Ten years after the initiation of this cooperation, ECDC invited the National ECDC Correspondents to reflect on the ECDC cooperation with EU enlargement countries and discuss ways how this collaboration could be enhanced to bring more added value and further enable sharing of best practices and expertise between the countries.
[1] This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence