The new president of Montenegro, Jakov Milatovic, has expressed his approach in favor of the “Open Balkans”, saying that he does not think that a closed region is in the benefit of the countries.

Milatovic said that the issue of membership in the Open Balkans will be addressed by the next government and the Parliament and that his political position is clear, “it is better to be part of the Open Balkans than a closed Balkans”.

  “The idea of the European Union (EU) was created as an idea of regional economic cooperation between Benelux, Germany, France and Italy. And we in the Balkans often forget the importance of our regional economic integration when we talk about European integration. The improvement of relations and regional cooperation is something that, as an economist, I have always defended”, said Milatovic.

He said that the priority of all priorities is EU membership and “as long as this is our main goal, I see no problem in improving regional economic cooperation at the same time”, writes the Montenegrin media RTCG.

“Furthermore, I think it is an integral part of our integration in the EU”, Milatovic emphasized.

/k.s/