Serbia, Albania, North Macedonia Agree To Strengthen Trade, Cooperation

Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia agreed Thursday to resolve problems on the ground to strengthen trade, cooperation and bilateral relations.

The leaders of Albania and North Macedonia arrived in the Serbian capital Belgrade the previous day to participate in the Open Balkans Summit.

At a news conference after meeting with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and North Macedonia's Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Dimitrov, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said all three countries' business communities supported the 'Open Balkans' project but complained that some things at the borders had not changed.

"We have agreed on the formation of the Implementation Council, and we will soon agree on its composition. In the next seven to 10 days, we will have meetings with representatives of customs, various agencies and phytosanitary inspections to see how the free flow of goods and services is going," Vucic said.

Vucic added that unhindered transit between the countries had been agreed on to enable faster growth and a higher rate of development because all three countries were lagging behind the developed countries.

The Implementation Council aims to coordinate the agreement within the 'Open Balkans' initiative.

The idea is to change the practice of many things agreed upon at the political level and not consistently implemented on the ground.

"We are frustrated when we do not implement what has been agreed at the political level. All businessmen, literally 100% of them, support this initiative and are only looking for faster results and activity from us, and let's not stop only at political declarations," said Vucic.

Rama said the focus of today's meeting was on people, companies, distributors, workers, students and academic citizens who are the real users of the Open Balkans initiative.

"Each of them suffers at the borders – from waiting, and those red lines, agencies, checks," Rama said, adding the regional countries' markets were small, but when integrated, they have some strength in attracting foreign investments.

Rama added that at the next meeting in Tirana, all agreements will be turned into concrete results and pointed out that Serbia has made a big step in attracting foreign direct investments.

Dimitrov said the Open Balkans initiative focuses on businessmen, farmers, distributors, workers, students and academics as well as specific users.

"Solidarity is the basis for future integration, and that means that we take care of others as we take care of ourselves," he said.

Tirana is expected to host the next meeting at the end of December, in which a Memorandum of Understanding on work permits will be signed.

The leaders had gathered with representatives of companies from the three countries.

The 'Open Balkans' initiative was attended by representatives of 22 holdings from the region, which brought together 184 companies.

The Open Balkans initiative is an economic and political zone of three member states in the Balkans, including Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. The initiative aims to provide greater opportunities for trade, student exchanges for an estimated total population of almost 12 million and encourage EU integration in the member states. -