Continued improvement of regional cooperation

Skopje, Macedonia (9 February 2017) -- Minister of Foreign Affairs Srđan Darmanović participated today in the meeting of ministers of foreign affairs of the Western Balkans (WB6) in Skopje, at the invitation of the Macedonian Minister of Foreign Affairs Nikola Poposki. In addition to the ministers of foreign affairs of Montenegro, Macedonia, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as the deputy minister of foreign affairs of Albania, the meeting was attended by the Commissioner for European Neighborhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn, Secretary General of the Regional Cooperation Goran Svilanović and Undersecretary of State of Foreign Affairs of Italy Vincenzo Amendola.

At the ministerial meeting, the discussion was focused around the activities on implementation of the conclusions of last year's Summit in Paris and the state of regional projects in the Connectivity Agenda, implementation of which was assessed as particularly important in the future. Activities to meet the July Summit in Trieste were agreed, with emphasis on the priorities of the region, such as economic prosperity and cohesion, the rule of law and the fight against corruption. They confirmed the full commitment to the implementation of the guidelines for Regional electricity market and compliance with the Charter of sustainability, and expressed willingness to sign the Transport Community Treaty. They also exchanged opinions on further improvement of regional cooperation, especially in the area of visa liberalisation in the Schengen countries, as well as the influence of current global trends on the EU enlargement process. The ministers adopted a Joint Declaration expressing readiness for further joint cooperation.

Minister Darmanović reminded that Montenegro applied for the project of Construction of a wastewater treatment plant in Podgorica on the second call for co-financing large infrastructure projects. He said that it is expected to start the implementation of projects to support the preparation of project documentation during 2017, which were approved to Montenegro for financing from the Western Balkans Investments Framework last year. Also, he informed that planned measures to remove market barriers in the field of transport and energy are successfully implemented and that Montenegro is ready for the finalisation of the Transport Community Treaty and its signing at the Summit in Trieste.

Minister Darmanović participated in a joint meeting of both ministers of energy and foreign affairs, including the Minister of Economy of Montenegro Dragica Sekulić. On this occasion, they attended the signing ceremony of the financial instruments of the European Commission with the financial institutions for future projects in the field of energy efficiency: the second phase of Western Balkans Regional programme of energy efficiency and Green Growth Fund.

On the sidelines of the meeting, Minister Darmanović had short meetings with Commissioner Hahn and colleagues from Macedonia and Kosovo, ministers Poposki and Hoxhaj.

According to the planned schedule of meetings of ministers of foreign affairs of WB6, Montenegro will take over the chairmanship of this initiative in the first half of 2018.