The President of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce (SCC), Marko Cadez, said today that after the meeting in Tirana of officials from Belgrade, Northern Macedonia and Albania, where six agreements will be signed, the three countries will get a common labor market within the Open Balkans initiative.
He told RTS that he expects to get “a common labor market, borders for crossing that work 24 hours, harmonized certificates, especially phytosanitary, that we do not have a problem that cost the economy a lot of money.”
In Tirana, during a new meeting between Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rme and Northern Macedonian Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, and within the regional initiative “Open Balkans”, a strategic plan for 2022 will be agreed.
Cadez, who is traveling to Tirana with the President of Serbia, said that the “Open Balkans” is not a set of signatures and agreements, but an idea of peace and prosperity of a part of Europe that has always been seen as problematic, especially now in the economic crisis of transport and labor crisis.
Two years and two months have passed since the first signatures of the three leaders and the creation of the “Mini Schengen” initiative, which was renamed “Open Balkans” in Skopje this July.
Cadez assessed that the meeting in Tirana was a historic summit and a great day for Serbia and the region.
“It has been worked on for a long time, that rift has been overcome and a new trust has been created,” Cadez pointed out.
He reminded that something had been signed before, such as a memorandum of cooperation, but that agreements were now ready that would allow the common labor market to start functioning at the beginning of next year.
“People have worked hard to find a solution. Tomorrow’s meeting of leaders is a sincere desire to create a common market within the now three economies and an invitation to neighbors to get involved, economies that are not currently part of the initiative are the psychological part of the initiative,” Cadez underlined.
He pointed out that concrete results of cooperation are already visible, such as trucks arriving at their destination faster or that someone who finds a job in Skopje, Vlora or Belgrade does not need three months to look for bureaucratic ways to take over the job, but everything ends in one day.
He believes that the “Open Balkans” initiative represents a moment of approaching the EU region.
“When you look at how the EU developed and what was the new hope of the then Europe, which was surprised by both hatred and wars, it started from the economy. The most important thing is trust through the joint work of leaders and businessmen, which has spilled over into politics,” Cadez said, Danas reports.
