Bregu: The Regional Common Market, the key to the unifying framework of cooperation for well-being

2024-10-14 19:13:00, Aktualitet CNA

Bregu: The Regional Common Market, the key to the unifying framework of

Western Balkan leaders signed a new phase of the Action Plan for the Regional Common Market 2025-2028 (CRM 2.0), while evaluating the work of the Regional Cooperation Council (RCC) and partners in the preparation of the document, at the Summit that also marked 10 - the anniversary of the Berlin Process, held today in the German capital.

The leaders also signed the Agreement on Access to Higher Education and Admission to Study in the Western Balkans, as well as approved the Declaration on Access and Cooperation in Research and Innovation Infrastructure, as well as the Declaration on Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) Screening Standards. Regional.

"The leaders of the Western Balkans signed today the plan that they will respect for the next 4 years - the second phase of the Common Regional Market is a plan for sustainable growth. It is a unifying framework of regional cooperation for common welfare or common interests in the global game. In all areas – digitalization, trade, investments, innovation, green policies, etc. – that started to become visible during the first phase of the CRM, the work for regional economic integration through the CRM plan signed today is firmly anchored in the Growth Plan of the EU," said the General Secretary of the RCC, Majlinda Bregu, at the Summit.

Leaders of the Berlin Process acknowledged the results achieved within the framework of the Common Regional Market 2021 – 2024, as well as the role of the RCC in facilitating it, including freedom of movement with identity cards, mutual recognition of higher education and professional qualifications within the region, the full functioning of Home Roaming within the Western Balkans, the reduction of roaming charges between the EU and the Western Balkans, the advancement towards membership in the Euro Payments Area (SEPA), the creation of Green Corridors and the reduction of reception, and applauded the efforts invested in strengthening regional cooperation. They emphasized the need for increased regional cooperation through CRM 2.0.

"After 6 years of my mandate as General Secretary of the RCC, I can say that this region has never been so free and so aware as it is now, of the importance of cooperation. We all owe the EU integration process. The Common Regional Market is a great opportunity, but it has a fundamental challenge: to cultivate a common vision and a clear purpose for our future in Europe. As we work to integrate markets, we also cultivate a common European identity, reducing the lure of isolationist policies and emphasizing the benefits of cooperation as a driving force for progress. As Jean Monet says: "We are not forming a coalition of states, we are uniting people" Bregu concluded.

The Agreement on Access to Higher Education and Admission to Study in the Western Balkans signed today is a new agreement aimed at increasing student mobility and giving them the right to study at accredited higher education institutions in the region . Together with the mobility agreements signed at the Berlin Process Summits in 2022 and 2023, this agreement will further increase the opportunities for free movement in the Western Balkans. The Declarations on Access and Cooperation in Research and Innovation Infrastructure, and on Foreign Direct Investment Screening Standards for the Western Balkans, adopted today, aim to promote research and innovation partnerships, cultivate a dynamic regional innovation ecosystem, as well as adapt investment policy to EU norms and international best practices.

Leaders of the Berlin Process welcomed the results of the First Ministerial Meeting on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans (GAWB), organized by the RCC last week in Hamburg. That meeting resulted in the adoption of the Hamburg Declaration on the Green Agenda for the Western Balkans that renewed and strengthened the commitment of the Western Balkans to the full and timely implementation of the GAWB and its Action Plan 2021-2030, the implementation of which is being facilitated and monitored by the RCC, with the vision of achieving climate neutrality by 2050.