Skopje, 26 February 2024 (MIA) – Caretaker Prime Minister Talat Xhaferi is to take part in the Western Balkans Investment Summit 2024 which will be held at the EBRD HQ in London on Monday.

Xhaferi will be accompanied by Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Fatmir Bytyqi and Finance Minister Fatmir Besimi, the government said in a press release.

During the Summit, PM Xhaferi will participate in the central and associated events, as well as hold a bilateral meeting with Odile Renaud-Basso is the President of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD).

According to EBRD’s press release, the aim of the Summit is to highlight potential investment and business opportunities in the Western Balkans region and to promote regional and cross-border projects. This is the sixth EBRD summit of its kind; the inaugural Western Balkans Summit took place at the EBRD ten years ago, in February 2014 and, for the first time, brought together all the region’s prime ministers.

“The traditional highlight of the Summit – interactive “Prime Ministers Session” - will see the regional Leaders and the President of the EBRD address the audience with their overall vision for the region, key regional projects and opportunities for investment at both regional level and in each of the countries of the region, which includes Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. The session will feature extended Q&A with foreign investors,” reads the press release.

Given that the green transition is the Bank’s key priority in the region, there will be a separate panel on Green Energy in the Western Balkans, which will bring together key policy makers (envisaged at ministerial level) and investors for a discussion on maximising private capital mobilisation to accelerate the region’s decarbonisation.

The Western Balkans is a priority region for the EBRD. Today, the EBRD remains one of the largest institutional investors in countries of the region, with more than €18 billion invested to date, reads the press release.

Photo: screenshot/EBRD