The newest form of regional cooperation is the “Open Balkans” or often referred to as the “Open Balkans”. The Open Balkans is a common economic and political area of the three member states of the Western Balkans, including Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. Since this initiative is relatively new, there is no extensive analysis of the benefits and/or risks associated with it. For this purpose, the paper “The Open Balkans Initiative: Benefits and Risks” has been prepared, which presents a general overview of the purpose and agreements already signed in relation to the Open Balkans initiative; analyzes whether this initiative is compatible with existing regional initiatives and lists the potential political and socio-economic benefits and risks of the initiative.
The roundtable held on June 30, 2022 had numerous discussions regarding the benefits and risks of the Open Balkans initiative, some of which were reflected by the experts in the final paper. Also present at this discussion were Ms. Romina Kuko, Secretary for Foreign Relations at the Socialist Party of Albania and at the same time a member of the FQS board of directors, as well as Mr. Julian Hodaj, Deputy Minister of Interior.
