Vucic departed to Tirana, Borrell is not coming, despite Rama's announcement

Vucic departed to Tirana, Borrell is not coming, despite Rama's announcement

The trilateral meeting between Serbian President Vucic, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and North Macedonia's Prime Minister Zoran Zaev is scheduled to start at 5 pm.

They will attend the donor concert "You'll Never Be Alone" at the Rogner Hotel around 7 pm.

On Saturday, participants of the rally will tour Durres, the epicenter of a devastating earthquake that hit Albania in late November, and then meet with Western Balkans leaders.

They are also scheduled to meet with representatives of international organizations and institutions, followed by a press conference.

Also, Montenegrin President Milo Djukanovic, as confirmed in Podgorica, will participate tomorrow in a meeting within the trilateral initiative of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia on the so-called. "mini Schengen".

European Diplomacy Chief Joseph Borrell will not participate, although Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama previously announced his arrival.

The initiative to remove obstacles to the flow of goods, services, people and capital was launched by President Vucic, who, two months ago, gathered the prime ministers of North Macedonia and Albania, Zoran Zaev and Edi Rama, in Novi Sad.

At the next meeting, held a month ago in Ohrid, an agreement was reached to launch the initiative, with the aim of improving the investment environment in the countries involved in the initiative.

The President of Serbia and the Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia then agreed on a series of measures aimed at free movement of goods, capital, people and services between the countries of the Initiative. The initiative has been open to other countries in the region from the beginning, but some have reservations.

At the Ohrid meeting, Council of Ministers Chairman Denis Zvizdic said that Sarajevo did not have a defined position on the initiative.

Montenegrin Economy Minister Dragica Sekulic did not have a positive view of the initiative at the time, because, as she said, Montenegro would not want "mini Schengen" to become a kind of alternative for EU membership.

On the eve of the trip, President Vucic said that it was not impossible for the President of Montenegro to attend the meeting.

Rama also invited Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, who refused to attend a meeting of regional leaders, stating that he would not come "because of Serbia's hindering the consolidation of Kosovo's statehood".

The host of the new meeting, the Albanian Prime Minister, has previously announced that the third Summit of the region's leaders will be held in Durres, but due to an earthquake that recently hit Albania, and in particular Durres, the meeting will still be held in Tirana.

At the meeting in Ohrid, among other things, it was agreed on 24-hour working hours of all inspection services with a focus on phytosanitary and veterinary inspection, as well as consolidation and formation of a common package of documents needed for transit of goods within the member states of the initiative, modelled on EU Member States.

It was also agreed to allow travel to these three countries only with ID cards, and to issue work permits in all three countries, as well as diplomas.