At the panel of the leaders of the Western Balkan countries at EBRD Annual Meeting & Business Forum in Sarajevo, Prime Minister Edi Rama answered a set of questions on the business climate in the Western Balkan countries, as well as the ways to stimulate more foreign investments as a result of integration processes.
Prime Minister Edi Rama said: “I think we should not wait to join the European Union in order to have our own Schengen model area. It doesn’t make sense to me that we still lag so much far behind in terms of communication, movement and freedom in a space where we need take part in to build a bigger market and have bigger space of opportunities. The EU is more and more like a Balkan entity in the sense that is less and less predictable. So, in this environment I would tell to all people who have come to Sarajevo for business interest and belong to the business community that we are the best among these all various unpredictable realities, because we have lower taxes and we have lower labour cost. So, investing in the Balkans in nowadays, in every Balkan country, is a good thing. And, yes, the good news in whole this process is that people in the business community are not having the same troubles and the same difficulties we are having at the political level, to sort out our differences when it comes to creating this economic zone and single market. So, I can say that what is happening with the business community is very revealing about how important is for the region to become one and act as one. So while EU is trying to find sense in its own mess and of course we need to go through reforms and to become better after becoming worse, we have to deepen our own reforms not only in every single country, but also for the region, which is difficult and, by the way, not because we have to compliment the host, but EBRD has been instrumental and we see EBRD as one of the sources of knowledge to overcome difficulties when it comes to creating successful models and when it comes to creating linking bridges.”
Answering to the media interest at the end of the panel, the Premier underlined:
“The annual EBRD meeting represents a very important moment of the year for us. I am very grateful to the host for this fantastic meeting. In the meantime, as you are seeing for yourselves, we are very aware of what should be done regarding the regional cooperation, free trade and the common regional market. It is easier said than done. We are living in interesting times as there are problems to cope with, but there are opportunities too.”
Q: What do you think about protests in Tirana against visit by Vucic and Dacic?
PM Rama: There are more issues in Great Britain rather than in the Balkans, so don’t worry, we are not alone.
