The Open Balkan summit in Belgrade concluded with a joint press conference of the leaders of the initiative’s partner countries:

 

President of Serbia Aleksandar Vucic: Ladies and gentlemen, journalists, the Prime Minister of Albania, Mr. Rama, Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Mr. Kovačevski, Prime Minister of Montenegro, Mr. Dritan Abazović, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina,

I am very proud to host the Open Balkans summit here in Belgrade, an initiative that is reviving hope for this whole part of the world which has always been fraught with misunderstandings and conflicts at the best of times.

As Dritan noted earlier, we have already tried everything, but we haven’t sought to cooperate and work side by side with one another in an effort to ensure a better life for the citizens. I believe that the time has come for us to make an effort for this.

Before giving the floor to our friends, I would like to point out some few more things about the crisis group we have already set up. A tough winter is approaching and whoever would tell you the opposite, they are just not telling the truth.

There are no EU pledges to help, but we will seek assistance from the European Union. Partial help or support to buy the necessary energy will be significant and excellent for all our Open Balkan countries. It is also a necessity for Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro to survive the winter. It is also a necessity for them to survive the winter

Everything we will need for ourselves, everything that will be available to Serbia, will also be available to Albania and North Macedonia.

Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania, Edi Rama:

Yesterday was the most beautiful day for the Open Balkan initiative. It could have been a typical bad day for the Balkans as a whole and instead of opening our doors to the hard-working people, the famers and the food production people and to many other people from all over the world, we could have opened the doors to bad news about tensions, conflict and war threats and so on and so forth. Fortunately, the first is true.

This is the Open Balkan initiative and this is the choice we have made to move forward and bring people closer together, get to know one another better, and this way we solve pending issues among us patiently, in good spirit and understanding, but without forgetting that there are so many things about which we can and we should definitely cooperate.

We in Albania have made a decision that I am still not convinced whether it is a very ambitious one or this is madness, and the decision is that the electricity price for household and small business will remain unchanged and we are applying the same pre-energy crisis rates. This is translated into hundreds of millions of euros taken out of the state coffers to cover the costs. However, this is not about the millions of euros in Albania or billions of euros in Serbia, but what matters most is how long this crisis would last. Second, you may have huge amounts of money available, but the thing is that you won’t find electricity to purchase. This is why cooperation is needed.

The EU is now considering plans to support countries with extra funding so that they could deal with madness, because it is impossible to add the cost to the countries and the consumers. We have our very modest budgets. The three of us need to address Brussels and all the EU member states to ask them to provide the same to our countries, additional financial assistance in addition to our budgetary support. I avail myself of the opportunity to renew the appeal to the EU not do the shame it did during the pandemic with us.

The leaders of the EU have accepted that this was a shame, although not openly, yet they have accepted it. Even at the talks at the European Council, the president of France underlined that we need a new European community, a strategic union, in order not to repeat the situation that happened with the pandemic.

The next seven months could prove to be the hardest ones and it would mean that, in the best case scenario, we would need around half a billion euros to keep the system intact and operating to continue supplying electricity. This winter is likely to be the hardest we have encountered. We have not had easy winters in the Balkans. We don’t have the opportunity to store the excess water when we have a lot of rain; in our winter period, we depend on imports. We need patience, support and cooperation.

We have signed other agreements. We are really optimistic; we are not satisfied because there is still a lot of potential. Our agencies will be autonomous, but at the same time they will be under one umbrella, the Open Balkan Agency for Foreign Investments.

Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovačevski:

It was a very important day for the region. We are here today together to convey the message that as Open Balkan states and governments we come together in solidarity to take action to deal with the crises facing Europe and our countries together. Taking notice of today’s talks, it would be better to stand together rather than on our own. This is the very essence of the Open Balkan initiative, solidarity, good neighborly relations to improve the lives and standards of our citizens.

We will ensure food exchanges without any restrictions. Even if there is an export ban, this will not apply to the countries of the Open Balkans. Our governments have been working for a long time to increase domestic food production. With the Open Balkans initiative, we have shown that North Macedonia, Serbia and Albania have taken the right steps, at the right time.

President of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zoran Tegeltija:

I was happy to attend the signing of the agreement and I witnessed what it looks like when people, countries solve supply problems together, they ensure a secure supply chain and I am sad because our relevant ministers were not here to sign the agreements together with his North Macedonia and Albania counterparts.

I am convinced Serbia will keep helping Bosnia and Herzegovina. Thank you!

Thank you for opening the doors to Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro. I will keep reiterating how significant the Open Balkan initiative is to the business community and the Bosnia and Herzegovina citizens. I wish you every success with the initiative.