Regional cooperation is an important catalyst for reconciliation in the region, good neighborly relations and I think the region is really very advanced in this regard. Someone calculated that there are 71 regional initiatives, and it can be said that we have inflation from regional initiatives and that the results are not in line with the size of the investments made. However, I would not emphasize the results of this increased communication and the region needs that.

This was stated by Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani at the one-day "Skopje Economic Forum" and announced that next week Macedonia will host a new initiative to connect the countries of the Western Balkans. Only this month, he says, we had a summit of the leaders of the WB from the Brioni process, a summit in Tirana, next week is the Prespa summit that will take place in Ohrid.

- Someone commented that 50 percent of the problems in the EU are solved by the meetings of the leaders and I think that this is an important precondition for regional cooperation in a region that was affected by hostilities 30 years ago. I would like to announce that we are launching a new initiative B6 from the Foreign Ministers of the Western Balkans in order to meet regularly, often and informally in order to establish better personal and interstate communications, and for the first time a meeting will be held here in With Macedonia next week, said Osmani

Regarding the reality between the WB and the EU, Osmani says that the situation is clear, the whole region is an island surrounded by EU member states, with 80 million people, and two thirds of the economy is related to the EU economy.

-So there is no alternative but for the region to one day be integrated into the EU single market. But to get to the gates of the EU you have to open the roads. The question is whether the gates of the EU are open to us. I think not yet, because our market is fragmented with many administrative barriers that reduce the potential of the region. That is why it is extremely important to release that potential to defragment our economy and to fulfill the Sofia Agreement within the Berlin Process, reche Osmani.

He also pointed out the infrastructure that is a problem. - The mountains have greatly influenced the regional cooperation and I think they still bother us. We have a mountain between S Macedonia and Bulgaria due to which for 200 km from Skopje to Sofia you have to drive more than four hours. That is why it is important, he stressed, to improve the infrastructure, to continue to invest in it and to realize the full potential for investment and trade to join the EU countries

When it comes to stability and integration in the region, Osmani said, the United States is an extremely important partner not only for S Macedonia but also for the region.

As strategic partners since 2008, our intention is to renew this partnership and expand as new allies in the NATO Alliance.Osmani.

The Minister of Finance and Economy of Albania, Anila Denai emphasized that the European and investment plan that comes in the post-pandemic period is of great importance. Despite greater challenges, Albania continues to maintain a very stable market situation and its effects are positive this year.

- The perspectives are here, we definitely have a plan, the Action Plan 2021 - 2024 in which we and each country in this region contribute to our economies and countries in terms of the path to EU membership. That is why it is important to be stable in all areas, and especially in the economy, says Denai.

The forum will have several panel debates, dedicated to stability and cooperation in the Balkan region, the economic development of the country after the pandemic, foreign investment, fulfillment of the promise of the European Union.

The forum was opened by Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, and among the participants are the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama, EU Enlargement Commissioner Oliver Varheji who will address via video conference, Deputy Prime Ministers Nikola Dimitrov and Fatmir Bitiqi, Ministers, Governor Anita Angelovska Bezoroska, USA , Great Britain, Germany, Greece and Poland in Northern Macedonia, the first people in the offices of the World Bank and the EBRD in the country, as well as domestic businessmen, university professors and journalists, guests from Slovenia, Serbia, etc.

The organizer of the Economic Forum in Skopje is the Delphi Economic Forum together with the Greek Business Association from Northern Macedonia. The purpose of the Economic Forum in Skopje is to grow into a high-level meeting of the strongest local and international political leaders and businessmen in anticipation of the ongoing challenges facing Northern Macedonia and the wider region.