Joint press statement following video meeting between the leaders of Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia:

 

President Vučić and the Prime Ministers and Rama and Zaev stated that the initiative on improving regional cooperation is fully in line with the Berlin Process and it represents a good basis for the upcoming Sofia summit of leaders of the Western Balkans.

The leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia – President Aleksandar Vučić, the Prime Ministers Edi Rama and Zoran Zaev – held a video meeting via Zoom platform today on renewing the initiative for improving regional cooperation which was launched last year.

The activities of the initiative for the improvement of regional cooperation were postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as due to the elections in North Macedonia and Serbia. The three leaders agreed that the crisis has further highlighted the need to intensify co-operation and regional economic integration.

During the online meeting, President Vučić and the Prime Ministers Rama and Zaev emphasized that that the initiative on improving regional cooperation is fully in line with the Berlin Process and it represents a good basis for the upcoming summit of leaders of the Western Balkans due to be held in Sofia. Bulgaria and North Macedonia are the co-chairs of the Berlin Process this year.

The leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia agreed that it is extremely important that the six Western Balkans countries join the initiative designed to improve regional co-operation.

Therefore they officially called on Pristina to join the initiative for deepened regional cooperation.

 The invitation followed the establishment of the framework defined in Washington in September between Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and Kosovo Prime Minister Avdullah Hoti.

President Vučić and Prime Ministers Rama and Zaev also agreed to form a permanent working group that will include official representatives of the governments of each of the participating countries, in order to speed up the process of signing and implementing agreed activities within the initiative for improving regional cooperation.

The leaders agreed that this initiative can also be used to identify joint infrastructure projects aimed at the development of the region, in accordance with the EU Economic and Investment Plan for the countries of the Western Balkans.

The three leaders also agreed to deepen cooperation and align public health policies in the context of the fight against Covid-19.

The three leaders expressed hope that the governments of Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina will soon be able to join this initiative, which would achieve better economic cooperation between all countries in the region and therefore would lead to increased freedoms, trade and, in general, better living standards for all peoples of the region.