Vučić in Tirana: Six agreements for the Open Balkans Initiative on the table

Vučić in Tirana: Six agreements for the Open Balkans Initiative on the table

A total of six agreements are expected to be signed, including the Agreement on Conditions for Free Access to the Labor Market in the Western Balkans.

Aleksandar Vučić will have an informal meeting with Edi Rama and Zoran Zaev at a joint dinner in Tirana today, and several meetings are planned for tomorrow, the Presidency of Serbia told Tanjug.

A meeting of the three officials and members of the delegations with the representatives of the Atlantic Council will be held in the Palace of Brigades in Tirana on December 21, at which the Strategic Plan for the Open Balkans 2022 will be discussed.

This will be followed by a ceremony of signing trilateral and bilateral agreements, followed by the Regional Forum on Agriculture and Regional Cooperation, which will be attended by officials, ministers of agriculture and rural development, rectors of agricultural universities and representatives of chambers of commerce. In the end, the three leaders will hold a joint press conference.

Previously, as planned, they will sign the Agreement on Conditions for Free Access to the Labor Market in the Western Balkans, the Agreement on Connecting Electronic Identification Schemes for WB Citizens and the Agreement on Cooperation in Veterinary, Phytosanitary and Food and Feed Safety in the WB.

It is also planned to sign the Agreement between the Government of Serbia and the Council of Ministers of Albania on Mutual Recognition of Approved Business Entities for Security and Safety (AEOS), as well as the Agreement between the Government of North Macedonia and the Council of Ministers of Albania on Mutual Recognition of Authorized Business Entities for Security and Safety (AEOS).

An agreement on co-operation between accreditation bodies in the Western Balkans will also be signed.

When it comes to establishing a single labor market, the agreement would mean that a work permit issued in any of these three countries would be valid in all members of the initiative - Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania.

In an open letter on Saturday, Vučić, Rama and Zaev invited everyone in the region to join the Open Balkans initiative. They once again called on all neighbors to gather and provide their citizens the benefits offered by this initiative.

The three leaders also believe that now the entire EU must unite and fully support the Open Balkans, as well as call on other neighbors to transform the comprehensiveness of the initiative from the words into deeds.