Economic Prosperity, Connectivity and Migration topped discussions at Western Balkans Summit
One year after the Berlin Western Balkans Summit, the heads of government, foreign ministers and economics ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, as well as Croatia, Slovenia, last year’s host Germany, future hosts France and Italy, EU representatives and International Financial Institutions met in Vienna on 27 August 2015 for the second Summit Meeting on the Western Balkans in the framework of the 'Berlin process'. The main topics discussed concerned Economic prosperity, Connectivity and Migration.
The Berlin process has been demonstrating strong political support for the European perspective of the Western Balkans, and it has helped the six Western Balkan countries achieve substantial progress in different areas. The meeting also clearly reiterated that all the Western Balkans countries firmly believe in their future within the European Union. The Council of the EU has repeatedly reaffirmed its unequivocal commitment to the European perspective of the Western Balkans.
The participants highlighted that all Western Balkans countries have achieved significant progress in the areas of rule of law and respect of fundamental rights.
Concerning migration, the preparation of a high level conference addressing the challenges of the Western Balkans route of irregular migration has been hailed as particularly important in order to further develop cooperation in this area. During her intervention at the Summit, High Representative Federica Mogherini i said "There is no magic solution, there is no magic event that can solve issues from one day to another. If we want to stop the tragedy and if we want to stop paying minutes of tribute and silence in front of the victims, this is what we need to do; to take responsibility and take our responsibilities in solidarity. And I know that I can count - we can count - not only on our Member States, but also on our friends in the Balkans to share this responsibility and solidarity."
In the area of Transport, the Western Balkan countries have agreed on the list of six core transport infrastructure investment projects; they include an intermodal terminal, two bridges and three railway projects. For Energy, they have agreed to four investment projects on power interconnectors and reinforcement to the region’s electricity transmission system. All these 10 projects will are scheduled to receive some EUR 200 million in EU funding.
The participating States finally welcomed the participation of civil society to the Summit, and their substantial contributions on the main topics of the Summit. The participants welcome the proposal to make civil society an additional important element of the Berlin Process.
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