At the joint press conference in Podgorica with the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazovic, Rama answered journalists’ questions about the “Open Balkan.”

“‘The Open Balkan’ is not my private company that I started and it is my decision to close it. “The Open Balkan” is a joint initiative of several countries where I have had the privilege to be part of and if I returned a thousand times, I would relaunch this initiative a thousand times and call it “The Open Balkan.” I have simply expressed my opinion that the ‘Open Balkan’ has fulfilled its mission, but I did not imagine, I do not imagine that processes and initiatives already consolidated, for example, or organized will have to stop abruptly,” he said.

“For a very simple reason, because slapping the ‘Open Balkan’ with hallucinatory conspiracy theories, such as “it is a Chinese-Russian plan”, or saying that the Hungarian prime minister is also involved, or saying that there are other factors at play here, aliens in space, in fact, they have not only damaged that initiative, but they have undermined the Berlin Process and influenced various countries to cast a shadow of doubt on an initiative that has had a very important virtue, as was implementing decisions that have been taken several times in the Berlin Process but have never been materialized”, he added.

Rama emphasized that “we must be laser focused on the Berlin Process now, not simply because Albania has undertaken to host it, but also because we have the historic opportunity to be included in a new financing plan of the European Union for the countries of the region, for which we need to rally.”

According to Prime Minister Rama, “Open Balkan” is not even a truck that we started driving and now we are leaving it on the road because we caught a train, but it is a complementary initiative. “There are 72 other initiatives in this region, but no one deals with them, they deal with the ‘Open Balkan,’ whether it was opened or closed. “One thing that has been launched is up and running, now here we have to open as many things as possible, not to close those that we have barely launched,” he said.

Rama emphasized that the “Open Balkan” has opened the wine fair, it has opened a series of interaction routes between our countries, which are routes that others are looking for. “For example, I come from Sarajevo where I was told that the ‘Open Balkan’ is what all the entrepreneurs are asking for. Three of the six countries did not get involved and that choice proved damaging to them. They did not benefit from what the other three did. The ‘Open Balkan’ gave these three countries the opportunity to implement some agreements that should have been implemented with the Berlin Process, but were dragged out because one country wanted this, one country wanted that,” he said.

Prime Minister Rama emphasized that it is high time to join forces and expand the scope of action as much as possible.
Rama added that sacrificing time, sacrificing opportunities and risking people’s lives for senseless stories is absolutely unacceptable.
/r.e/sm/