Brussels, 27/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - During the Balkans summit (Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia - FYROM, Kosovo, Montenegro and Serbia) on Thursday 27 August, the Western Balkan states agreed on the creation of a Regional Youth Cooperation Office, several European and Balkans leaders announced.
This Office is “a project that will allow young people from all over the region to get to know and - hopefully - understand one another better”, said Germany's Foreign Affairs Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier. “The main aim is to convince people, especially young people, that joint, common work can be well full and might be paid off, and that there is no alternative to this type of work”, said Serbia's Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic. He added that the Office would involve all the Western Balkan countries, with the support of Croatia and Slovenia.
While Steinmeier said that “the construction of roads and bridges will not be enough” to bring the region closer together and that the people need to come closer together, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations Johannes Hahn announced that “over the course of the year” there would be investment of up to €600 million in transport, including €200 million from European funds. The head of the European Investment Bank (EIB), Werner Hoyer, announced that the EIB was ready to finance a number of transport and energy connection projects “in the near future”. He mentioned the Rail Route 10 railway, which will link Serbia, Kosovo and FYROM, and he also spoke of the TAP trans-Adriatic gas pipeline.
The leaders also announced that the next Balkans summits will take place in France and Italy. (Camille-Cerise Gessant)