March 17 (SeeNews) - Western Balkan prime ministers have agreed to further enhance economic cooperation and integration in the region by building a common regional market, according to a joint statement published on the website of the European Commission.
At their meeting in Sarajevo on Thursday, the prime ministers of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia vowed to boost their countries' growth potential, job creation and economic convergence, to facilitate innovation, stimulate business and encourage investment, they said in the statement.
"We propose that our representatives together with the Regional Cooperation Council and supported by the European Commission, start working on a proposal for a joint approach to furthering economic cooperation in the Western Balkans through different initiatives in order to present them at the Trieste Summit, which could include circulation of goods, services and capital, free flow of skilled workforce, a common digital approach and a dynamic investment space," the statement reads.
According to the EU enlargement commissioner Johannes Hahn, the Western Balkan common market might create some 80,000 new jobs by 2025.
Joining the Central European Free Trade Area (CEFTA) ten years ago impacted positively the region, but intra-regional trade flows did not grow enough during that period, Hahn said in his speech at the meeting, according to a separate press release published on the website of the Commission.
He also stressed that the export patterns are still dominated by low-skill, low-tech and natural-resource-intensive products.
Hahn proposed to the leaders swift implementation of the CEFTA agreement on trade facilitation and completion of negotiations on liberalising trade in services. He also said that business and investment promotion which is stimulating the strengths of the region and local entrepreneurship should be top priority for the leaders.
"You need to send the message that investing in any one of your countries is investing in a - common - market of some 20 million consumers," he pointed out.
Economic integration as an essential step toward EU membership which all six countries aspire, Hahn added.
The proposals discussed on Thursday will serve as the basis of an action plan on regional economic integration which is to be adopted at the Trieste Summit in July. Hahn said that at the summit a substantial increase in the budget of Western Balkans Enterprise Development & Innovation Facility (WB EDIF) will be announced in order to help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to work together to develop the opportunities in the region. WB EDIF is funded by the EU and aims at improving access to finance for SMEs in the region.
The enlargement commissioner urged the Western Balkan countries to put aside tensions and pick up momentum.
"I don't think you can afford to squander this positive climate through domestic confrontations and blaming neighbours," he said.