The heads of the governments of Western Balkan countries are meeting twice, once during the 16+1 summit in Sofia this weekend and right after that again in London next week.

The leaders will in Sofia determine a new phase of a big number of infrastructure projects and in London they will meet with the representatives of eight countries of the European Union.  

Goran Svilanovic, the General Secretary of the Regional Cooperation Council, which is one of the organisers of the London meeting, said that the summit had already started on Thursday in Vienna where the economy ministers have presented the progress made since a regional action plan was adopted last year at a meeting in Trieste.

The meeting is moving to London on Monday and Tuesday, he said.  

“We will have a meeting of the civil sector,” Svilanovic said, “A Youth Forum was held in Novi Sad as part of the preparations and messages from that forum will be articulated on behalf of the civil sector in London on July 9.” 

The summit will continue with a meeting of interior ministers that will be followed by a meeting of foreign ministers and then prime ministers.

“The European Union has announced a good thing, a guarantee fund of 150 million Euro that will be focusing on projects of small and medium companies and the private sector. The money will be available as of 2019,” he said.  

It takes a year to do a study about what can be done and how useful it will be, he explained.  

“This study is already being done and the evaluation is ongoing,” Svilanovic said, adding, “That is a big ting, as one of the problems was that fact that the private sector did not know how to take loans that could be sustainable and that can be paid back.”

Another batch of 150 million Euro dedicated for concrete projects was already approved during the last summit in Sofia for highways, railways and the energy sector, he said.  

A novelty that the summit this year is introducing is the meeting of regional interior ministers.  

“What is expected and what the Brits are insisting on is to pay attention to the role of the illegal arms trade in the overall security in Europe,” he said, adding that regional countries can contribute to the solution of that problem if they can control their stashes so that no terrorist acts are committed with weapons and ammunition produced in the region.

All parties agree that money flows must be followed in order to avoid money laundering and that more has to be invested into customs services so that those could be connected to financial inspections  

“The UK is to present a document which is still being discussed. It mentions war crimes and missing persons. As far as I know, the final draft has not been agreed on yet,” he said.  

Svilanovic said he believes the prime minister will support what was discussed in Sofia, “and that is where we are exactly when it comes to EU integration and what we can expect.”