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Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina have expressed a desire to join the “Open Balkans”, while the Serbian president said that this is the best initiative in the region, which brings benefits to all Western Balkan countries.
The participants of the “Open Balkans” initiative gather today and tomorrow in Ohrid, Northern Macedonia, for the next meeting. On Tuesday they attended a working dinner, while on Wednesday they are expected to sign four co-operation agreements – on the fight against tax evasion, the recognition of higher education diplomas, cultural co-operation and co-operation in the field of tourism – in which Radio Free Europe has had access.
The “Open Balkans” initiative involves three Western Balkan countries: Albania, Serbia and Northern Macedonia – outside of which are still: Kosovo, Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
However, representatives of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina are attending in Ohrid.
Vuiqiiq: “Open Balkans” does not replace the EU
The President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vuiqiiq, stated in Ohrid on Tuesday that the “Open Balkans” brings benefits to all countries in the Western Balkans region and that this initiative does not replace integration into the European Union, but is a special initiative of the Balkan peoples. .
After arriving in Ohrid, he said that he is a strong supporter of the start of EU negotiations with Northern Macedonia and Albania, but the “Open Balkans” initiative is for the benefit of all.
“This initiative is the best in the region in recent decades,” said Vucic, while speaking even if this initiative is open to Kosovo.
“As for anyone else’s desire to enter the ‘Open Balkans’, everyone is welcome. You call it the Republic of Kosovo, we call it differently. “If you want to solve the problems in the interest of the citizens, will we have enough flour, oil and everything else, then this is a question for the ‘Open Balkans’,” Vucic said.
“I have no problem talking to anyone in Pristina. The trade exchange in CEFTA is many times bigger than in the beginning. “This brings benefits to the Balkans,” he added.
The Serbian president said that in the meeting with other leaders he would raise the issue of how the countries of the region can help each other in food, energy, gas, joint construction of thermal power plants, especially renewable power plants.
In addition to the Serbian President, Aleksandar Vuiqi,, the Macedonian Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovacevski, and the Albanian, Edi Rama, who are the initiators of the “Open Balkans”, the Prime Minister of Montenegro also participates in the meetings of the initiative in Ohrid. , Dritan Abazovi,, as an observer.
The Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zoran Tageltija, is also present.
Tageltija: Bosnia and Herzegovina wants to be part of the “Open Balkans”
Tegeltija stated in Ohrid on Tuesday that Bosnia and Herzegovina is participating as an observer in the “Open Balkans” summit.
He said he expects the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina to make a decision soon to join the initiative.
“I am here because I know that almost the entire business community in Bosnia and Herzegovina, most of the politicians, want to be part of the ‘Open Balkans’ project, but the entities are also determined to join this project. “I am here to convey the message to the members of the ‘Open Balkans’ that Bosnia and Herzegovina is preparing and wants to become a member as soon as possible,” Tegeltija told Republika Srpska Radio Television.
He stressed that last week he had again called on the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina to take a decision to join the initiative and that he hoped that members of the Presidency who were opposed would change their minds and understand how important this project was. for the business community and the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Abazovic for the first time at the “Open Balkans” meeting
The Prime Minister of Montenegro, Ditan Abazovic, has also given signals that his country could be included in the “Open Balkans”.
In the margins of the “Open Balkans”, Abazovic also met with the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, and the US Ambassador to Serbia, Christopher Hill.
While Rama wrote on Facebook that Azbazovic’s participation “officially introduces Montenegro to the ‘Open Balkans'”, such a thing has not been confirmed by the Prime Minister of Montenegro, who while talking about his participation in Ohrid said that all “our most important foreign policy partners are here”.
“The Western Balkans has a place in the EU and Montenegro as a leader in integration is ready to be a positive example in this process,” he wrote on Twitter.
Meanwhile, the host of the meeting in Ohrid, the Macedonian Prime Minister, Dimitar Kovacevski, said that “in every new meeting of the initiators and friends of the ‘Open Balkans’, we offer stronger cooperation, easier communication and better conditions for economic development”.
“All these are of great importance for companies and citizens of the region. “It is a pleasure that our guests at this summit are Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina, who I believe will be part of this successful initiative in the future,” Kovacevski said in a Facebook post.
Kosovo will not participate in the Ohrid meeting
The Prime Minister of Kosovo, Albin Kurti, has informed the Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, that he refuses to participate in this meeting, as, as he said, Kosovo remains engaged in the Berlin Process.
This process is an initiative launched in 2014 by the then German Chancellor Angela Merkel, with the aim of promoting regional cooperation in the Western Balkans and European integration.
Kurti has said before that the “Open Balkans” initiative is more like an “Open Balkans for Eastern influences” than an initiative for a common regional market.
In a letter to Kovacevski, Kurti called on his Macedonian counterpart to “work together to prevent Serbia from promoting its Russian and Chinese interests in our region, while repeatedly denying Kosovo’s independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity and blocking equal opportunities.” for the citizens of Kosovo ”.
Varhelyi and Escobar will address the participants
The participants in Ohrid will be addressed through the video link by the EU Commissioner for Enlargement, Oliver Varhelyi, as well as the US Special Envoy for the Western Balkans, Gabriel Escobar.
With this step, Varhelyi and Escobar will prove that the “Open Balkans” initiative has the support of the EU, as well as the US administration.
What is foreseen in the agreements that are expected to be signed?
The three initiators of the “Open Balkans”, the Prime Minister of Albania, Edi Rama, the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, and the former Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, Zoran Zaev, have conceived this concept in 2019 with the aim of, as stated , creating an area of free movement of people, goods and services in the Western Balkans.
The three member states have repeatedly invited other Western Balkan countries to join the initiative.
So far, the parties have signed several agreements – for the movement of their citizens with ID cards, for cooperation in facilitating the import and export of goods and others.
The agreement, which is expected to be signed on Wednesday to combat tax evasion, states that the three countries consider the “increased importance” of co-operation in this area, namely tax evasion.
The next agreement to be signed on the mutual recognition of diplomas, protects the acceleration of procedures for the recognition of higher education diplomas between Serbia, Albania and Northern Macedonia.
To promote cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding, the three countries are also expected to sign a memorandum of understanding on cultural co-operation in the Western Balkans.
The memorandum of understanding in the field of tourism, which is also expected to be signed in Ohrid, envisages the formation of a tourist map, called the “Open Balkans”. The signatory states are obliged to encourage contacts between their tourism organizations and workers, while the creation of special working groups for this field is envisaged.
The expert on political issues in Northern Macedonia, Xhelal Neziri, tells Radio Free Europe that initiatives aimed at deepening cooperation and facilitating the movement of citizens and goods are welcome, but, according to him, it would be good. that such initiatives include all states.
“The ‘Open Balkans’ aims to promote communication in all areas. This communication will produce not only economic development, but also stability and security in the region. So, I think that the open Balkans should be a hallway, in the form that countries will be prepared for a much greater competition, for a very large market, such as the European Union “, says Neziri.
According to him, the drawback of this initiative is its origin, because in the beginning, as he says, it did not provide inclusion, but was undertaken by only three countries.
Commenting on Kosovo’s refusal to participate in this meeting and in general on the “Open Balkans” initiative, as well as Kurti’s call “to prevent Serbia from promoting its Russian and Chinese interests in the region”, Neziri says:
“An initiative consisting of countries that are members of NATO, such as Albania and Northern Macedonia, and in which other countries such as Montenegro are expected to join, can not be a project that will enable Russia to extend its influence in the region. I think that there are discourses of daily politics in Kosovo, which I do not believe are based on facts “.
The President of Kosovo,Vjosa Osmani, has previously said that the “Open Balkans” is not built on the principles of regional cooperation and that in this initiative, the six countries of the Western Balkans are not treated equally.
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