Bulgarian PM Boyko Borissov and World Bank CEO Kristalina Georgieva opened a forum in Sofia, which lays the beginning of an initiative in support of the regional integration of the Western Balkans.

The participants include the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaci, the President of Montenegro Filip Vujanovic, the Prime Ministers of Albania Edi Rama, of Macedonia Zoran Zaev, and of Serbia Ana Brnabic, as well as the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations of Bosnia and Herzegovina Mirko Sarovic. The forum is also being attended by Johannes Hahn, Commissioner for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations.

The discussions are focusing on ways to strengthen European integration in the region and the development of joint infrastructure projects, which is one of the priorities of the Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

Addressing the participant, PM Borissov stated that in the Balkans, we must all be like fingers – it does not matter whether you are big or small, what matters is to be united. We have the rare opportunity of persuading our colleagues in Brussels that we bring wisdom, not just problems.

Kristalina Georgieva on her part pointed out that the meeting has a very clear-cut and specific task – to take a more serious look at transport connections and the potential in the IT sector in the region. She added that the World Bank was ready to finance trade and transport projects in the region of the Western Balkans amounting to up to 200 million USD. Commissioner Hahn declared the start of a fruitful year for the integration of the Western Balkans.