The director of the Serbian Chamber of Commerce, Marko Cadez, stated that the mini Schengen initiative has advanced the furthest from all previous initiatives.
Speaking at the “Belgrade NATO Week” organized online by CEAS, he said that there is no economic cooperation without a common interest, which is a healthy way to unite the region and send a message to the EU that the Serbian economy has benefits.
As he said, the next step is to ask Brussels to change its approach to the enlargement of the Western Balkans and to start treating this part of Europe as an essential part of the wider economic zone.
“The EU must reaffirm that we are part of the future of Europe, not treat us as third world countries. That is the idea behind the initiative, behind our cooperation,” said Cadez.
When it comes to NATO membership, he says that there is a clear position of the business community on European integration and NATO membership that it is beneficial for the economy.
According to him, there is no better investment than investment in the region, which is why it is important to push the initiative.
After the October 5 changes, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the FR of Yugoslavia, Goran Svilanovic, said that it was necessary to continue regional economic cooperation and regional political and security cooperation.
Svilanovic stated that regional cooperation in the field of economy is directly related to regional cooperation in the field of security cooperation.
He reminded that at the recent summit within the Berlin Process in Sofia, six economies agreed to form a common regional market.
Svilanovic pointed out that the three countries that are part of the mini Schengen initiative, ie Serbia, Albania and Northern Macedonia, have agreed to move even faster and speed up those steps, Nova reports.
