31. 03. 2023.

The three-day annual regional conference of the Network of Agencies for the Peaceful Resolution of Labor Disputes was held in Budva, Montenegro, from March 28 to 30, 2023. The conference was attended by directors of agencies and other bodies for the peaceful settlement of labor disputes and conciliators and arbitrators from Montenegro, Romania, Bulgaria, the Republic of North Macedonia, Albania, Republic of Srpska (BiH), Greece, Spain, Hungary and the Republic of Serbia.

More than 30 participants from the countries of the Western Balkans gathered at the regional conference with a focus on the topic of improving institutions for the peaceful resolution of labor disputes through a comparison of achieved performances and systems applied in conducting of the procedures.

Dr. Ivica Lazović, the Director of the Republic Agency for the Peaceful Resolution of Labor Disputes of the Republic of Serbia, was one of the opening panelists who spoke about the ASLD application that was developed through the ESAP 2 project in order to collect key information on indicators important for the observation and understanding of the concept of peaceful resolution of labor disputes in the area of Western Balkans. He pointed out that, from the Agency's point of view, the value of this application was reflected in the ability to use it to see our position in relation to other institutions from in the neighborhood that deal with the peaceful resolution of labor disputes, to compare the values of the indicators and to take possible corrective measures through further cooperation and consultative actions in the work processes.

On the second day of the conference, the participants were introduced to the practice of peaceful settlement of labor disputes in Greece by Prof. Dr. Kostas Papadimitriou from the Faculty of Law in Athens and OMED President from the Hellenic Organization for Mediation and Arbitration. Also, Diego Ribera from Spain talked about the experience of the Spanish Foundation for Inter-Confederation Mediation and Arbitration.

The entire event was organized as part of the Employment and Social Affairs Platform 2 ESAP 2 project, which is a regional project funded by the European Union and implemented by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Regional Cooperation Council. Through the ESAP 2 project, the International Labor Organization team, among other things, provides support to the countries of the Western Balkans in the improvement and development of the concept for the peaceful resolution of labor disputes.