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5 minutes agoEscobar before visiting Albania: Support “Open Balkan”
Periskopi(5 years ago)
(5 years ago)On the eve of our first official visit to Tirana, US envoy for our region Gabriel Escobar has voiced confidence that Albania will most likely become a member of the European Union in the future. “When you look at the region as a whole, fiscal administration in Albania and North Macedonia make them unique and thus qualify [...]
On the eve of our first official visit to Tirana, US envoy for our region Gabriel Escobar has voiced confidence that Albania will most likely become a member of the European Union in the future.
When you look at the region as a whole, fiscal administration in Albania and North Macedonia make it unique and thus qualify for EU membership. We are witnessing phenomenal economic growth in the Western Balkans. With European integration and all related economic processes in the region, there will be a source of growth and development for Europe. The rapid integration of this region will be a regional source for the energy sector, transport, IT sector, technology and given major university centres”.
Asked about the fact that there is resistance to the “Open Balkans project” in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Montenegro, meaning the creation of a common market and economic zone among countries in the region, Escobar stressed that the United States supports the initiative.
We support every effort for regional economic integration, the Berlin Process, the Common Regional Market, CEFTen and the Open Balkans. As long as it's open to all countries, as long as it offers legal and regulatory systems and raises them to the European level, as long as it promotes justice, open trade, we will support these principles”.
The US envoy for the region stresses that economic integration should precede the creation of strong institutions, while the new US administration is focused primarily on the problem of corruption.
You can't have initiative for open borders unless you have adequate regulations for people's entry, against money laundering, against smuggling, etc. After all, the economies of this area cannot function if you have a market of 600,000 in Montenegro or 2 million in northern Macedonia. You need a market of 20 million for everybody to participate in it. This is the basis on which we condition our support for the “Open Balkans”.
Escobar has noted that in the coming days the new American policy of sanctions on corrupt individuals will be expanded. /tvclean. al
