After the first international wine fair “Wine Vision by Open Balkan”, held yesterday in Belgrade, the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, and the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovačevski presided together over another “Open Balkan” summit today, also in Belgrade. After the meeting, they signed bilateral and trilateral agreements and memos in the fields of food security, energy, culture and civil protection. The meeting was held at the Palace of Serbia, and in addition to the representatives of the member countries, the outgoing Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazović, the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zoran Tegeltija, and the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Hungary and Turkey, Peter Siarto and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, were also in attendance.

The first agreement signed by the relevant ministers of the member countries and founders of the “Open Balkan” Initiative is the Agreement on Food Security Mechanisms in the Western Balkans between the Republic of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia.

The Minister of Agriculture of Serbia Branislav Nedimović, the Minister of Agriculture of North Macedonia Ljupčo Nikolovski and the Minister of Agriculture of Albania Frida Krifca put their signatures on this agreement.

Its purpose, as explained, is for the members of the “Open Balkan” Initiative to help one another in the event that the supply chain be interrupted due to the consequences of the global crisis, when one of the countries is faced with a shortage in the supply of basic agricultural and food products on the domestic market.

The members of the initiative again confirmed the necessity of cooperation in preventing and mitigating the possible shortages of basic agricultural and food products that would follow from a possible crisis situation in the region, or the crisis that is affecting the global market and being reflected in the region, said the agreement.

The Memorandum of Understanding on Cooperation in the Field of Film and Audio-visual Activities in the Western Balkans was also signed at the Palace of Serbia. It was signed by the Minister of Culture of Serbia Maja Gojković, the Minister of Culture of Albania Elva Margariti and the Minister of Culture of North Macedonia Bisera Kostadinovska Stojčevska.

The memo is actually a continuation of the previously signed Memo in the Field of Culture from July 2021, outlining the foundation of a joint co-production fund of the “Open Balkan” for film professionals.

Then the Minister of Mining and Energy of Serbia Zorana Mihajlović and the Minister of Infrastructure and Energy of Albania Belinda Balluku signed the Memo of Understanding between the two ministries.

The signed Memo outlines mutual support for investment in new capacities, especially where it concerns the construction of LNG terminals (for liquid natural gas) in Albania.

The document also outlined the development of electrical energy capacities that use renewable energy sources and connection in these fields.

It also included the exchange of scientific and technological research in the field of green energy sources, as well as the advancement of business and economy connections in the field of energy, including the the use of transport, transmission and storage capacities.

There are also plans for cooperation in the fields of geology and mining, with a special accent on cleaner technologies and sustainable development.

The fourth document signed today is the Operational Plan in the field of civil protection between Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia.

It was signed by the Assistant Minister of the Interior of Serbia and Head of the Department for Emergency Situations, Deputy Director of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue of North Macedonia Zulfikar Zejnualai and the General Director of the National Agency for Civil Protection of the Ministry of Defense of Albania Haki Çako.

The Operational Plan is a continuation of a previous Agreement on Cooperation in Civilian and Emergency Situations from July 2021.