Skopje, 2 October 2025 (MIA) – Digitization, interoperability, cyber safety, connecting institutions as well as the challenges of the new era – from artificial intelligence to business leaders and the academic community, are the topics being discussed in Thursday’s Western Balkans Digital Summit (WBDS) 2025, a regional event in Skopje bringing together the leaders of digital transformation from the Western Balkans, the EU and beyond.

Minister of Digital Transformation Stefan Andonovski said Skopje has brought together state officials, representatives of the Western Balkan economies, experts, diplomats, business leaders from the region, adding he hoped the event will strengthen connections between the countries.

“I hope the event will serve as a platform to connect all these countries without being just an opportunity for discussions. We should all be successful. Encouraged by the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC), we worked on a joint declaration calling on the EU and all our neighbours and paving the way for the initiative allowing us to roam like at home, cut down costs for data, costs for phone calls and SMSs of the Western Balkan citizens toward the whole of Europe in the same way the initiative has helped us implement it here, in the Balkans,” said Andonovski speaking before WBDS started.

RCC Secretary General Amer Kapetanovic said he was pleased to have been given the chance to open the 7th Digital Summit alongside PM Hristijan Mickoski and Minister Andonovski, mentioning that the first one was held in Skopje in 2018. Since then, he said, several steps have been made for the citizens in the region, including the Western Balkans free roaming zone and the prices of roaming prices dropping between the EU and the Western Balkans.

“We are making a step further to establish a zero tariff with the EU, a major step in the phase integration with the EU market,” said Kapetanovic adding the ultimate goal is to connect the region with the EU’s digital market.

The Skopje Summit, he added, will be followed by the Berlin process summit in London, where crucial documents and action plans should be passed, including integration of the region’s digital market with the EU’s.

Photo: screenshot