Goran Svilanović

Goran Svilanović took office as the Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Council on 1 January 2013, and his re-appointment was approved at the summit of the South-East European Cooperation Process (SEECP) Heads of State or Government in Tirana on 26 June 2015 for a second term beginning in January 2016.  A Serbian diplomat and politician, he previously served as the Co-ordinator of the OSCE Economic and Environmental Activities (2008-2012). In November 2004, he became Chairman of Working Table I (democratization and human rights) of the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, where he served until the end of 2007. He was a member of the Senior Review Group of the Stability Pact, which proposed the transformation of the Stability Pact into the Regional Co-operation Council.

From 2000 to 2004, Mr Svilanović was the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which was renamed Serbia and Montenegro in 2003. Between 2000 and 2007, he was a Member of the Serbian Parliament. He was President of the Civic Alliance of Serbia political party from 1999-2004. With a Ph.D. from the Union University in Belgrade, Masters and undergraduate law degrees from the University of Belgrade, Mr Svilanović has also studied at the Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, the University of Saarland in Germany, and the European University Center for Peace Studies in Staadtschlaining, Austria. Mr Svilanović has worked with a number of organizations and committees, such as the Centre for Antiwar Action (1995-1999), the International Commission on the Balkans (2004-2006) and the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights (2007-2008). Since 2008, Mr Svilanović has been Assistant Professor of Law at the Union University in Belgrade. Goran Svilanović speaks Serbian and English. He was born on 22 October 1963. He is married and has two children.