Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs BenedettoDella Vedova delivered the closing address at today’s Western Balkans conference organised by the NATO Defence College Foundation, the Delegation for the Italian Presidency of the Council of the EU and the Balkan Trust for Democracy.
Speakers at the four conference sessions (regional cooperation, Serbian-Kosovo relations, the Western Balkans’ European and Euro-Atlantic integration, Bosnia) included FYROM Minister for Defence Zoran Jolevski and representatives of think-tanks, regional organisations and Balkan country foreign and defence ministries, notable among them Secretary-General of the Regional Cooperation Council Goran Svilanovic.
“The conference provided an updated overview of the most salient aspects and problems associated with Western Balkan European and Euro-Atlantic integration”, observed Under-Secretary Della Vedova, who also underscored “the major overall progress achieved in the Balkans’ bid for European and Euro-Atlantic integration” and, at the same time, “the importance of ongoing support along the path toward Europe, as Italy has offered over recent years and intends to continue to do. It is fundamental”, Della Vedova concluded, “that the countries of that region make every effort to achieve this goal and garner the convinced support of all regional and international actors”.
