Ohrid, 8 June 2022 (MIA) — The Open Balkans initiative is aimed at creating a future of economic progress via greater regional business cooperation and mobility of citizens, and any such initiative encouraging progress and reconciliation will have the Government of Montenegro's support, Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazović said Wednesday at the Open Balkans Summit in Ohrid. “We cannot change the past, only the future. The choice is ours,” Prime Minister Abazović said. Although Montenegro is not yet a formal member of the Open Balkans, Abazović stressed that cooperation between all leaders from the Western Balkans toward economic development and European integration was in the interest of all regional countries. He welcomed the participation of the EU Enlargement Commissioner at the summit, and highlighted the importance of the United States’ support for the initiative. He also welcomed the idea that regional countries should have a working group that would intervene in times of energy crisis and food transport. Abazović noted that any individual country could not navigate 21st-century challenges on its own. “Such a policy is fatal,” he said, adding that the region needed to have an “open conversation [to] develop trust and build a society that can create new value and give a chance to new policies initiated by the desire for greater economic growth and mobility of our citizens.” “I really think we should give this a chance,” the Montenegrin PM said. He said all Open Balkans leaders wanted to see their countries join the EU. The EU itself, he added, would not be complete without the Western Balkans. Initiatives like the Open Balkans should be supported because of their contribution to overall progress, he said. Also, he pointed out, joining the EU would create greater security for the citizens and greater economic progress. “It will mean,” he added, “that we are done with the politics of the past. That kind of politics did not bring anything good to the region. The politics of the past is a politics of conflict, and the politics of the future is a politics of mutual respect and trust. “You have a helping hand from the Government of Montenegro for all initiatives that create progress in the Western Balkans. No such initiative should be seen as hostile, but aimed at us becoming part of a larger European Union. “It is up to us to show we can deliver this – to shake hands and solve our problems as behooves us,” Abazović said. mr/