LONDON – The next summit under the Berlin Process, an initiative aimed at strengthening regional cooperation and European integration of Western Balkan countries, will be held in London on July 9-10. Berlin Summit in 2014, each of the following years a summit was held, in Vienna in 2015, in Paris in 2016 and in Trieste in 2017.
Prime ministers, foreign ministers and other senior officials from the Western Balkans will attend the upcoming summit, along with representatives from the European Union and member states – Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Croatia and Slovenia, and the possibility of Greek participation is also mentioned.
Economic, security and political cooperation
The London Summit has three main objectives: economic, political and security. The economic objective is to increase economic stability, through the creation of a better business environment, the promotion of entrepreneurship, the resolution of youth unemployment and the promotion of regional cooperation.
The security objective refers to strengthening regional security cooperation, in order to more effectively address common threats, such as corruption, organized crime, human trafficking, drugs and terrorism. In order to achieve this objective, emphasis will be placed on improving the exchange of information between law enforcement agencies, anti-crime agencies and anti-money laundering agencies.
Finally, the political objective is to help the region through the resolution of bilateral disputes and to overcome the legacy of the past, as well as to strengthen democracy and gender equality. The progress made by Western Balkan countries in searching for missing persons and prosecuting war crimes will also be assessed.
Civil Society Forum and Youth and Business Forum
The importance of CSO involvement in this process was recognized from the start, and thus, at the Vienna Summit in 2015, the Civil Society Forum was trained. This Forum has quickly become the basic platform through which the civil society sector influences regional cooperation. During the last meeting in Paris in 2016, the Youth Forum was created, which represents a platform for dialogue between young people involved in this process.
After the consultations which included the Youth Conference held in Pristina in March this year, as well as the preparatory meeting of the Civil Society Forum held in Vienna in April, these two platforms will continue to contribute to the process at the next summit of London. In London, representatives of civil society and youth will participate in the Civil Society and Youth Forum and exchange views with the six foreign ministers of the Western Balkan countries at a joint panel on July 9.
THE Business Forum was created at a summit in Vienna and brought together representatives of the business community as well as prominent economists from the Western Balkan countries. The details of the activities of this London Summit Forum are not yet known, but it is clear that trade facilitation and other measures aimed at strengthening economic ties between the Western Balkan countries will be the main topics.