Open Balkan leaders open summit

“There was never more attention and energy directed at the success of this project,” he told the summit which is chaired by the Serbian President and Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, Edi Rama and Dmitar Kovacevski. The summit is being attended by Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, Bosnia-Herzegovina Council of Ministers Chair Zoran Tegeltija, and the Foreign Ministers of Hungary and Turkey Péter Szijjártó and Mevlut Cavusoglu.

According to Vucic, trade between the three Open Balkan members increased 17 percent after a green corridor was introduced to speed up the flow of food products.

Prime Minister Kovacevski told the summit that the three countries took a key step at a crucial time. “We focused on easing the movement of people, goods, services and trade and built a relationship of trust. That cooperation has opened the way to deal with challenges by securing food and energy for our populations while other countries tackle the consequences of the war in Ukraine,” he said.

Rama said that the important thing is to rally other countries such as Greece, Turkey, Hungary and Italy adding that the Open Balkan leaders sent a clear message that their first choice is peace. According to him, the fact that more countries wanted to be invited to the Open Balkan conference is a sign that the Balkans are as important to Europe as Europe is important to the Balkans.