“Today officially Montenegro in the Open Balkans”, Rama meeting with Abazovic: Pleasure to receive coffee on arrival in Ohrid

He emphasizes that Montenegro officially enters the Open Balkans today. Rama adds that Hill has long been a friend of Albania and a staunch supporter of the Open Balkans.

“It is a pleasure to have a coffee on arrival in Ohrid, with the Prime Minister, Dritan Abazovič, who today officially introduces Montenegro to the Open Balkans, as well as with the US Ambassador to Serbia, Chris Hill, who is a longtime friend. of Albania and Albanians, and a staunch supporter of the Open Balkans “said Rama.

Serbia, Northern Macedonia and Albania will meet today in Ohrid, in the next meeting within the “Open Balkans” initiative.

On June 7 and 8, an agreement on the recognition of higher education diplomas, as well as memoranda on cultural cooperation in the field of tourism are expected to be signed.

None of the four planned documents mentions enlargement, but invites other interested states to cooperate in the future.

The representative of Montenegro, Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic, will also attend the Ohrid summit for the first time. He has been criticized by part of the public in his country because he does not rule out the possibility of Montenegro’s membership in the “Open Balkans”, an initiative launched in 2019, which to date, despite having the support of the EU, as well as of the previous and current US administrations, failed to expand.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has rejected the invitation of the Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, to participate in the Open Balkans Initiative.

The three initiators, Edi Rama, the Prime Minister of Albania, Aleksandar Vuçi,, the President of Serbia, and Zoran Zaev, the former Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, conceived this concept in order to create an area of ​​free movement of people, goods and services in Western Balkans.

According to information, the initiative advocates the acceleration of procedures for the recognition of higher education diplomas between Serbia, Albania and Northern Macedonia.

The seven-article agreement refers to the fifth level qualifications (higher education), as well as levels six to eight of the European Qualifications Framework (from the knowledge and skills of advanced to higher education).

It is specified that diplomas in Albania will be recognized by the Center for Educational Services at the Ministry of Education, in Serbia by the Agency for Qualifications for Vocational Recognition, as well as in Northern Macedonia by the Vocational Diploma Recognition Unit of the Ministry of Education.

The three members of the “Open Balkans” invite on this occasion the other countries of the Western Balkans to join the agreement.