Head diplomats and transport ministers from Western Balkans countries and high representatives of the international community sent a clear message at the Western Balkans ministerial conference in Pristina that better infrastructure connectedness will accelerate the Western Balkans’ development.
The conference was launched by Kosovo’s foreign minister Hashim Thaci and EU’s neighbourhood and enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn. Montenegro’s delegation was headed by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and European Integration Igor Lukšić.
Tying the Western Balkans countries closer together is one of the priorities of the EU’s transport policy, with the view to establishing a core network that would encompass capital cities and will further develop through joint commitment to shared priority projects, Mr Hahn has said. He said that the EU will help the future progress of the Western Balkans initiative through various programmes and financial assistance related to infrastructure development and he announced a future help of one billion euro for infrastructure projects.
Mr Thaci said that good neighbourly relations, dialogue and cooperation are the foundation of success in the integration process. Good communication and regional cooperation break walls between the peoples in this region and this is the greatest success of this initiative, which was from the outset supported by the EU, Mr Thaci has said.
Mr Lukšić noted that the initiative had an objective from its inception to identify priority areas of joint action which would result in better infrastructure connectedness and investment that would aid economic development. He underlined the importance of overcoming challenges together, which would create preconditions for better implementation of joint projects in the future, which is further corroborated by today’s conference. Today we reached an agreement not only about future steps when it comes to establishing a core network of routes and I am sure that further development of this initiative would help the countries of the region to make use of the time before EU accession to make use of all the possibilities for faster development of the region, Mr Lukšić has said.
The conference in Pristina was an opportunity to present good practices from the region when it comes to sector priorities, which were prepared by national investment committees, and it has gathered head diplomats and transport ministers from Western Balkans countries and high representatives of the international community.