Agreement reached on the final steps in securing mutual work permits between Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania

During the meeting with the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama and the Prime Minister of North Macedonia Dimitar Kovacevski in Verona, an agreement was reached on the completion of the process of securing mutual work permits between the three countries, member-states of the Open Balkans initiative, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said.

Vucic made an announcement at the press conference right after the meeting with Rama and Kovacevski, under the auspices of the Open Balkans initiative, that the parties also discussed implementation of new identification cards, noting that an agreement on that subject could be reached in the coming months, the Government website reports.

- We agreed on the finalization of the process of securing work permits, and that would be the basis, I dare say, the basis of economic cooperation between all of us - said the President of Serbia.

He said that all three parties talked about helping ordinary people and removing all obstacles to free trade and free flow of goods, people, capital and services.

- We discussed many important topics in order to prepare everything before the start of the summer season, among them are those related to food safety - Vucic stated.

According to his statement, the topic of the conversation was also the harmonization of identification documents that will speed up border crossings.

Vucic pointed out that the trade exchange between Serbia and North Macedonia is increasing and that it has increased by 50% in the last three years.

The largest obstacle for countries in the Western Balkans, as he pointed out, are the borders, because the trucks transporting the goods drive only 30% of the time and spend 70% waiting at the border checkpoints.

The President of Serbia is currently in Verona, where he visited the International Wine Fair VinItaly 2023.

Vlada Republike Srbije

Government of Albania

Government of North Macedonia

Government of Serbia

Edi Rama

Dimitri Kovacevski

Aleksandar Vucic

Verona

Open Balkans

International Wine Fair VinItaly 2023

free trade

free flow of goods

free flow of people

free flow of capital

free flow of services

trade exchange between Serbia and North Macedonia

identification cards