Belgrade, 13 November 2021 (MIA) – The goal of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia is to work united, Serbian Finance Minister Sinisa Mali said at a meeting opened Friday evening in the Serbian city of Nis, which brings together officials from the three countries as part of the Open Balkan initiative. In the next couple of days, the participants will discuss ways to implement the Open Balkan initiative, including lifting of barriers for businesses and people, MIA’s Belgrade correspondent reported. North Macedonia at the meeting is represented by Deputy Agriculture Minister Trajan Dimkovski. “We all share the same goal, to increase economic cooperation not only among the three countries but also with all other countries in the region. As politicians, our goal is to provide better conditions for people in the region to have better lives, to improve businesses, to earn more and to make their dreams come true here,” Serbian Minister Mali said in his opening remarks at the meeting. The meeting, he said, aims at producing plan on how transportation of goods, services and people to be improved and to remove the obstacles for development and progress the three countries are facing. Over the weekend, six sectoral groups will discuss import and export capacities, transportation of goods, free movement of produces and food products, free movement of industrial products, access to labor market, the Open Balkan single electronic identity of the citizens and the single information system. To implement the Open Balkan initiative won’t be easy, but all three governments will work together to make it succeed, said North Macedonia’s Deputy Minister Dimkovski. According to him, talks will involve ways to increase production and trade between the three countries, to cut down red tape amongst other things. “We’ll be discussing until we have eliminated all barriers,” Dimkovski stated. He said he hoped the Open Balkan initiative will provide better future for the three economies. Serbian Agriculture Minister Branislav Nedimovic said his ministry will make efforts to solve issues involving the Presevo-Tabanovce border crossing, adding a series of proposals will be presented to the representatives of North Macedonia and Albania at the meeting tomorrow. “We are on the track to introducing no control for food at the border crossing. Several batches of meat from North Macedonia have entered Serbia in the past seven days and there was not a single control. We decided to make the first step and we hope you will make the next one,” he said. Albanian Finance Minister Delina Ibrahimaj said she hopes the weekend-long meeting will be successful in enabling the Open Balkan to be implemented soon. “I’m glad we are here thanks to the political will of our three leaders and we are contributing to prosperity of our region,” she noted.