Berlin, 21 October 2022 (dpa/MIA) - The Western Balkan countries want to create a common regional market and thus take an important step towards European Union membership, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Friday as she hosted their foreign ministers. Under the agreement, people in the region would be able to cross the border with identity cards instead of passports, and university degrees and professional qualifications would be mutually recognized, Baerbock said at a conference at her ministry. "You are making life easier for your citizens and helping your businesses to boost trade and economic growth throughout the region," Baerbock told her Western Balkan counterparts. "I really congratulate you on this breakthrough." The agreement is to be signed at a Western Balkans summit of heads of state and government in Berlin on November 3. Baerbock called on the governments of the Western Balkan states to "swiftly implement all the necessary steps to ensure that the agreements are signed as foreseen." The meeting of foreign ministers in the so-called "Berlin Process" format also addressed, among other things, energy security against the backdrop of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, cyber security and the common green agenda. The Western Balkan states include Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, Northern Macedonia, Montenegro, and Serbia. Bulgaria, Greece, Austria, Croatia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic were also represented at the foreign minister level. The Western Balkan countries were promised European Union membership in 2003. Since then there has little progress and the process has stalled. The "Berlin Process" format was launched by then-chancellor Angela Merkel in 2014 at the first Western Balkan conference in Berlin. The format is intended to advance the rapprochement of the Western Balkan states with the EU.