Western Balkans Summit 2017: delivering for the region

The 2017 Western Balkans Summit took place yesterday in Trieste, Italy. Heads of Government, Foreign Ministers, Ministers of Economy and Ministers of Transport of the Western Balkans together with their counterparts from several EU Member States and high EU officials – High Representative/Vice President Federica Mogherini and Commissioners Johannes Hahn and Violeta Bulc – discussed key areas of regional cooperation, and set out concrete measures to better connect the region’s infrastructures, economies and people. At the end of the Summit Federica Mogherini said: “[…] we confirmed the perspective of the European Union integration of the Western Balkans. All the 6 partners in the Western Balkans clearly want to be more integrated in the EU, once the right reforms are passed. Many new practical projects were confirmed and a Transport Community Treaty was signed, opening new connections.” Her full remarks are available here.Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations participated in many events including the signing ceremony of the “letter of intent” for new assistance under the Western Balkans Enterprise Development & Innovation, the Business Forum, the Civil Society Forum, the Youth Forum and the meeting with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs. Violeta Bulc, Commissioner for Transport met with the Ministers of Energy and Ministers of Transport focussing in particular on the finalisation of the Transport Community Treaty and on road safety. At the signature of the Transport Community Treaty also Federica Mogherini and Johannes Hahn were present. The full press release following the Summit is available online as well as the Q&A: Western Balkans: Regional Economic Area and the Factsheet on the Transport Community