Open Balkan leaders’ summit, Macedonian Evening to be held in Belgrade
Belgrade, 2 September 2022 (MIA) – Serbia’s President Aleksandar Vučić and Prime Ministers of North Macedonia and Albania, Dimitar Kovachevski and Edi Rama, will hold a leaders’ summit on Friday as part of the Open Balkan initiative event, taking place in Belgrade on Sept. 1-4. In addition, PM Kovachevski will host a “Macedonian Evening”.
According to MIA’s Belgrade correspondent, the Open Balkan leaders will hold a press conference after the summit. Besides the leaders of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania, the summit will also be attended by Montenegro Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, Bosnia and Herzegovina Council of Ministers Chairman, Zoran Tegeltija, as well as the Foreign Ministers of Hungary and Turkey, Péter Szijjártó and Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu respectively.
The summit will start off with a plenary meeting of the Foreign Ministers of Serbia and Albania, as well as North Macedonia’s Deputy PM for European Affairs Bojan Marichikj.
Summit participants will also hold meetings within the Open Balkan investment initiative, supported by the Atlantic Council, as well as a meeting of the food and energy crisis management group, and sign several bilateral documents and memoranda.
The Macedonian Government adopted on Tuesday several reports for completed negotiations for documents and confirmed the texts of the documents as part of the Open Balkan initiative, which will be finalized during the summit in Belgrade.
The documents include an agreement on cooperation in the field of food security mechanisms in the Western Balkans, as well as a memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the field of cinematography and audiovisual activities, and an operative plan in the field of civil protection.
Later on Friday, PM Dimitar Kovachevski will host a “Macedonian Evening” to promote Macedonian wines, food, music and tourist attractions to businesspeople and decision-makers from Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia. The event will feature a performance by Vlatko Stefanovski.
The Macedonian delegation in Belgrade, led by PM Kovachevski, includes Deputy PM Bojan Marichikj, as well as Ministers Ljupcho Nikolovski, Kreshnik Bekteshi and Nikola Tupanchevski.
Former prime minister Zoran Zaev, one of the initiators of the Open Balkan initiative, is also expected to arrive at the event on Friday, sources told MIA.
Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania on Thursday opened “Wine Vision by Open Balkan”, the first international fair for wine, food and tourism taking place September 1-4 in Belgrade.
Addressing the opening, PM Dimitar Kovachevski said the Open Balkan today shows what integration is, what facilitated approach, practical application of the open door policy and good neighborliness is.
“Today, here, we’re connecting our economies, we’re opening new markets, and securing space to exchange new ideas, technologies and access to work opportunities,” said Kovachevski.
The Balkan wine routes are criss-crossing here, because the fair brings together producers, buyers and distilleries in the region, Kovachevski told the event alongside Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić.
The first international fair of wine, food and tourism “Wine Vision by Open Balkan”, organized as part the Open Balkan initiative, is taking place in Belgrade Thursday through Sunday.
Over 350 participants from 39 countries are taking part in the event, held under the auspices of the governments of Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania, including 47 from North Macedonia. Exhibitors from Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, France, Italy, Romania, Moldova, Chile, Argentina, South Africa are also taking part.
According to the organizers, 420 meetings of businesspeople took place on the first day only.
Forty-two wineries and three distilleries from North Macedonia will present over 300 wines and brandies. The country, under the slogan “Taste life,” will also showcase authentic Macedonian food products.
