A joint meeting of the Western Balkans leaders took place in the panel entitled: “Diplomacy Dialogue for the Western Balkans”, which was held behind closed doors on 25 May.This panel aimed to help promote regional cooperation and build new international partnerships.

The Government of Montenegro said that the meeting discussed how the Government and business can work together to strengthen the stability of the region and secure its ties with key partners at a time when geopolitical risk is growing.

In addition to Kurti and Abazovic, the panel was attended by the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vucic, the President of Northern Macedonia, Stevo Pendarovski, the Prime Minister of Croatia, Andrej Plenkovic, the EU Special Representative for Dialogue, Miroslav Lajcak and others. Representatives of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Albania were not present at the panel.

Abozovic said the two leaders have pledged to commit to developing infrastructure projects that would improve ties between the two countries and contribute to economic development. Meanwhile, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic invited Abazovic to join the next meeting of the regional initiative, “Open Balkans”, to be held in Ohrid, North Macedonia.

At the panel on security in Europe, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that the best way to support Ukraine is to provide weapons, which the Allies are doing a lot in this regard. He reiterated, however, that while supporting Ukraine, NATO would not be part of the conflict.

/Klara Ruci/