At the recent meeting of the President of Serbia with the Prime Minister of Albania and the Deputy Prime Minister of Northern Macedonia, the “Open Balkans” initiative was discussed, which implies the opening of borders between the three countries. On that occasion, President Vučić invited all other parties in the region to join the initiative. RTS was checking what the abolition of borders with neighboring countries would mean for the economy.
An entire load of trucks, such as fresh fruit, vegetables or milk, often breaks down before waiting at the destination due to waiting at the border. This is claimed by drivers, who sometimes wait for days due to extensive administration at certain border crossings.
“They expect a lot from the Open Balkans. The wait is unpredictable, you have practically no time to predict when you will reach your destination, because the borders and procedures are such that sometimes you wait an hour, and God forbid sometimes 70 hours,” says Vlada Lukic, driver from Kruševac.
Stoiljko Veljkovski, a driver from Macedonia, thinks that it would mean a lot, not only for him, but also for everyone from Serbia, Albania and Kosovo and Metohija.
Crowds are often at the border crossing with Republika Srpska, in Mali Zvornik, which crosses more than ten thousand trucks a month. In order to facilitate the trade of goods and services, the members of the initiative invited all other countries of the Western Balkans to join. Abolishing borders would mean the most for the economy.
“The agreement that Serbia signed with Northern Macedonia and Albania, which is related to the abolition of border control between the countries, will bring us export-oriented companies great relief in trade and placement of goods in these countries. On a practical example, we will reduce unnecessary export costs and unnecessary waiting at the borders, and we will overcome the large administrative, so to speak, complicated administrative procedures that we have had so far,” says Olgica Samoilović, entrepreneur.
In the “Open Balkans” initiative, however, freight forwarders saw the problem.
“There will almost certainly be layoffs, the volume of work will certainly be reduced to a great extent, most shipping companies will probably have to close their offices at the border crossing,” said Milos Misic, director of the shipping company from Vranje.
The “Open Balkans” is an initiative that has replaced the mini-Schengen, and the goal is to better connect the countries in the region economically. At previous meetings, it was agreed that border controls between Serbia, Northern Macedonia and Albania would be abolished on January 1, 2023, RTS reports.
