By Ismail Ozdemir
ANTALYA, Türkiye (AA) – The Serbian foreign minister highlighted Saturday the importance of EU membership process for Western Balkan countries.
"The EU idea is a supportive factor for Western Balkan countries to walk a certain path and act in unity and solidarity," Ivica Dacic said at a panel titled "Challenges and Opportunities in the Balkans," at the Antalya Diplomacy Forum held in southern Türkiye.
Underlining the historical and geopolitical significance of the Western Balkans, Dacic said that various steps would be taken on common issues among Balkan countries to further improve the peace and stability in the region.
Speaking at the panel, Bosnian Foreign Minister Elmedin Konakovic said that his country has a “painful past.”
"We struggle with living together with people who deny genocide and support war crimes; we turned our wounds into wisdom. This is what we need to do now for the future of all the Western Balkans," Konakovic added.
North Macedonian Foreign Minister Bujar Osmani, for his part, expressed his belief that Russia will turn its focus towards the Western Balkans after the Ukraine war.
"The solution is to increase resilience in the region, and increasing Euro-Atlantic integration is crucial to achieve this aim," Osmani said.
"North Macedonia has fully aligned its foreign policy with EU foreign policy," he added.
Montenegrin Foreign Minister Filip Ivanovic, underlined that the EU is the best method to bring Balkan countries together.
Underlining that his country’s integration process into the EU has taken a long time, Ivanovic said: "Montenegro has been negotiating with the EU for 12 years, which is a very long time. A common European future for the Western Balkans will be in the interest of peoples and countries."
*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz