Rama: Growth Plan Will Lower Cost of Money Transactions from Diaspora

Edi Rama, Belgrade, Nov. 4 2021(BETAPHOTO/MILAN OBRADOVIC/DS)

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama stated in Tirana on Feb. 29 that the cost of sending money from the diaspora to the region would be reduced through the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans, as would that of transactions between individuals and businesses.

He pointed out that the diaspora sending money from the European Union to the Western Balkans had six times greater costs than those incurred when money is sent from one EU member state to another and that, in this way, millions of euros will stay in the citizens’ wallets. “The Growth Plan is a key platform for accelerating our EU accession and an instrument that will make this process tangible for the people,“ he told the media after the Western Balkan leaders’ meeting with EU officials about the region’s European integration and carrying out of the Growth Plan.

During the meeting, European Commissioner Oliver Varhelyi said, the participants discussed the green corridors, the harmonizing of financial regulations with the European Central Bank and the SEPA (Single Euro Payments Area) initiative. He said it would not be fair to integrate countries of the Western Balkans into the EU common market, because they would have less chance to be competitive, and that this was why the Union was assisting them financially in reforms and regional integration. Varhelyi pointed out that citizens should feel the benefits of EU membership and that concrete projects should be carried out, instead of negotiating about abstract terms.

The meeting in Tirana was attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, Prime Minister of North Macedonia Talat Xhaferi and the head of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Borjana Kristo, while the representatives of Montenegro and Kosovo made their addresses by video-link.