Japan will provide up to €53,000 to support the Western Balkans Fund to organize a conference that will address ways to mobilize the stakeholders of the two regions to combat the propagation of fabricated news, inaccuracies, and disinformation, which in turn nurtures misguided perceptions among the broader community and negatively influences the regional stability.

Japan’s support comes from the framework of the Western Balkans Cooperation Initiative, launched by former Prime Minister of Japan, Abe Shinzo, in 2018. This initiative aims to support the socio-economic reforms of the Western Balkans towards the EU accession and to facilitate ethnic reconciliation by promoting cooperation in the Western Balkans. In this context, Japan attaches great importance to the cooperation with the Western Balkan’s Fund, as an organization that shares our common goal of strengthening cooperation and advancing the integration of the region into the European Union. This is the fifth time that Japan provides financial support to the Western Balkan’s Fund, with the latest example being in February this year to support a project aimed at promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment in the Western Balkan region.

This time as well, the International Visegrad Fund (IVF) has agreed to join efforts in this project, bringing forth the experiences and challenges of the region. At the 7th “V4 plus Japan” Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, which was held in 2021 at Poland, the ministers confirmed the recent major achievements of “V4 plus Japan” cooperation, including assistance for the Western Balkans. In this context, this project is an excellent example of Japan’s and V4 cooperation in the Western Balkans.

At the meeting held before the signing ceremony, Ambassador Takada and Mr. Murra spoke about the situation in the Western Balkans region, where the phenomenon of spreading fake news and misinformation/disinformation in recent years poses a significant challenge to the peace and stability of the region, while the situation has deteriorated further due to the Russia – Ukraine conflict, as European and global peace and security face new and un-known challenges and risks.

Ambassador Takada confirmed the commitment of the Government of Japan to further support the region and finding new concrete possibilities for cooperation both with the Western Balkans.