Western Balkans 2030 Conference Held in Belgrade

(BETAPHOTO/MILAN ILIC)

Italian Ambassador to Serbia Luca Gori said at the opening of the Western Balkans 2030 conference at Belgrade's Sava Center on Nov. 12 that there was new momentum in the European Union enlargement process, accompanied by a new geopolitical awareness.

At the opening of the conference, which brought together the representatives of international, European and regional institutions and governments, but also investors and innovators, Gori said that enlargement was and would be an important element of a "new security architecture."

The program of this year's conference, organized by The Region magazine, includes three panel discussions, dedicated to regional integration and accession to the EU, green transition, and digitization and modernization. Gori also said of enlargement to the Western Balkans that on the one hand it involved striving to close chapters and clusters and transform candidate countries into members, and on the other a geopolitical game or competition with several other countries of the world.

U.N. resident coordinator in Serbia Matilde Mordt also delivered an address at the opening of the conference, saying that infrastructure development was necessary for deeper integration of the region, and that accelerating energy transition required development of cross-border electrical energy transmission.