Dear colleagues,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Vaclav Havel once said that: “Hope is not the conviction that something will turn out well but the certainty that something makes sense, regardless of how it turns out.”

In few minutes we will sign the Agreement for the Establishment of the Western Balkans Fund.

Our signatures today carry a twofold meaning. First, they show our strong political will to strengthen and deepen the relations between our countries. Second, they represent the new way of thinking and acting in the Western Balkans.

Far from being a “business as usual” approach, the signing of the Agreement marks a step in the right direction towards building a prosperous region based upon real projects with concrete results to the benefit of our citizens.

Thus, we are not only hopeful that the Western Balkan Fund will work, but we are convinced that it makes sense.

The creation of Western Balkans Fund could not have come at a better time. As the countries of our region are all working toward EU-membership, this Fund will facilitate the possibilities for project-oriented cross-border cooperation.

The Western Balkans Fund, we are creating, is based on the model of the International Visegrad Fund, a success story with 15 years of experience.

Our efforts during this year paved the way to reaching consensus about the statute, the host country agreement and the annual contribution of each country.

The Western Balkans Fund will have its headquarters in Tirana and its first Executive Director will be an Albanian diplomat.

This is the first time that my country will host the headquarters of such an important development mechanism and on behalf of the government of Albania I would like to reiterate our utmost commitment in carrying out successfully the responsibilities that the Fund brings along.

We believe that we have what it takes for turning the Western Balkans Fund into a project hub to the benefit of our citizens and societies.

Let me use this opportunity to reassure our partners that we will continue working together for making our WBF a success story.

In this occasion, also on behalf of Western Balkans colleagues, I would like to thank the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and the Governments of the countries of the Visegrad Group and Minister Lubomír Zaorálek for their continuous encouragement and support.

 

Thank you for your attention