By Nicholas Paphitis - The Associated Press

A two-day Balkan summit starting today in Greece will seek to boost ties with the European Union and improve regional cooperation, officials said.

“We have very close cooperation with the other countries,” Foreign Minister Dora Bakoyannis said yesterday. “Good regional cooperation always bears positive results for all the peoples in the area.”

The Southeast European Cooperation Process, or SEECP, summit opens in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki today with a meeting of foreign ministers, while heads of state and government will hold talks tomorrow.

The SEECP members are Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Greece, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), Romania, Serbia-Montenegro and Turkey, while Moldova has observer status. Greece is set to hand over the one-year presidency of the group to Croatia after the summit. The agenda will focus on cooperation in assisting the EU prospects of regional countries, and the strengthening of political dialogue and infrastructure projects, Foreign Ministry spokesman Giorgos Koumoutsakos said. He said regional leaders will also discuss creating an SEECP representation at the EU.

Greece is the only SEECP member that also belongs to the EU. Romania and Bulgaria are set to join the 25-nation bloc in 2007 or 2008, while other SEECP states are also hoping for membership.

On the sidelines of the summit tomorrow, Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis will meet with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, officials said.

Relations between NATO allies Greece and Turkey have improved considerably in recent years, after the two neighbors came close to war in 1996 over disputed islets in the Aegean Sea.

But tensions still simmer, fueled by air space and territorial waters disputes. There also remains the problem of Cyprus — divided into a Greek-Cypriot south and a Turkish-Cypriot north since 1974.

Bakoyannis accused Turkey last week of failing to match Greek goodwill gestures, hinting that unspecified Turkish “provocations” could hinder the country’s EU bid.