Italy's foreign minister stresses rekindling cooperation with Western Balkans countries

By Giovanni Legorano

ROME (AA) – Italy’s foreign minister met with his counterparts from several western Balkan countries to rekindle the country’s cooperation with the region, his office said on Monday.

On the sidelines of the UN meetings in New York, Antonio Tajani said he agreed with the foreign ministers from the Balkans to reinforce cooperation in many sectors, beginning with the economy.

He said Italy needs to promote in cooperation with these countries joint action against irregular immigration to fight criminal organizations of human smugglers in the region.

He said the European Union-Western Balkans summit in Brussels in December will be an occasion to give new stimulus to the European enlargement process towards these countries and define a precise timetable for it.

“The government attributes great importance to the integration of the western Balkans into Europe. We commit to accelerate this process also with gradual measures of integration,” he said.

The meeting, which involved the foreign ministers of Albania, Bosnia, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, Croatia and Slovenia, took place on the sidelines of UN General Assembly week in New York.

The top diplomats also agreed to meet twice a year under the same meeting format to discuss matters of common interest.

EU leaders recently said the bloc should be ready to admit new members by the year 2030, mentioning in particular the Western Balkans nations.​​​​​​​