At the Summit within the framework of the “Open Balkans” initiative, an agreement will be signed today in the Palace of Serbia that will regulate cooperation in the field of food security.
– The success of the Open Balkan initiative project depends on how successful we will be in securing a good economic future for our countries. The establishment of the green corridor has led to a 17 percent increase in trade, said Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić and added:
– The agreement we are signing today will mean that when any of our countries makes a decision to ban the export of certain foods, it means that such a decision will not apply to each other.
The summit is being held in the Palace of Serbia, it was announced from the office of the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, reports Sarajevo Times .
The President of Serbia also referred to the importance of issuing the first work permits, which he believes will be a turning point in the development of the OB initiative countries.
– For us, the establishment of a working group for crisis prevention is very important, since we know that difficult autumn and winter are approaching – Vučić pointed out.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama also pointed out the importance of the Open Balkans initiative in times of economic crisis.
– Thanks to OB, we were able to unfreeze the grain export ban and take the necessary steps for energy security at a time when energy supply turned into a dramatic problem at the world level. Our desire to join forces leads us today to sign an agreement on the safety of food products – said Rama.
The two most important parts of the document that will be signed today will refer to the guarantees that Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania will have priority in the mutual exchange of basic foodstuffs, so that the population of those countries will have enough food in crisis situations, as well as the mechanisms to prevent the re-export of food to third markets.
The summit will be chaired by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, and the Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia, Edi Rama and Dimitar Kovačevski.
The Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazović, Chairman of the BiH Council of Ministers Zoran Tegeltija, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Peter Sijarto and Head of Turkish Diplomacy Mevlut Čavušoglu will also attend the meeting.
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As a reminder, the four-day Wine Fair was opened yesterday, which represents the first concretization of the Open Balkans Initiative.
