Voice of the economy – WB6 CIF Business Council

WB6 CIF Business Council successfully held its first constitutive session which was chaired by Mr. Marko Čadež, President of the WB6 CIF Managing Board and President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia.

As an advisory body to the WB6 CIF Managing Board, representing a voice of the entire economy of the region, Business Council  will give significant influence in creating a stronger, common regional market.  President Čadež emphasized that through the Council, interests of the Western Balkans economy will be represented both in direct communication with the governments of the region and through communication with the European Commission, international institutions and other stakeholders.

Together with members of the WB6 CIF Managing Board, Council will prepare proposals and policy suggestions and will advocate with Governments of the region, RCC, CEFTA and other relevant stakeholders to create more stimulative and more competitive business environment in the Western Balkans. Furthermore, the role of the Council is to promote a direct dialogue between the business community of the Western Balkans and EU decision makers, in order to enable faster integration of the region into the EU single market, through the inclusive approach to the enlargement.

During the first part of the session, members of the Council discussed about proposed acts defining goals and manner of work, as well as a Position Paper that contained priorities and views of the business community regarding the creation of a common regional market. The Position paper will be adopted ahead of this year’s Summit of the Western Balkans, which is being held on November 10 in Sofia, under the joint chairmanship of Bulgaria and North Macedonia over the Berlin process launched in 2014. By the end of the week it will be send as a joint Position of WB6 Managing Board and the Business Council to all decision makers in the region, but also to the European Commission, European Parliament, Regional Cooperation Council, CEFTA, to the diplomatic core, international financial institutions, NGOs, media, etc.

In the continuation, members of the Council briefly presented themselves and their companies and also had an opportunity to share some of the ideas and initiatives they consider useful for faster and simpler business without barriers.

In the second part of the meeting, the participants were joined by representatives of the European Commission, Mr. Thomas Hagleitner,  the Regional Cooperation Council, Mrs. Majlinda Bregu and the CEFTA Secretariat, Mr. Emir Đikić who presented the draft of Common Regional Market Action Plan 2021-2024, which will be adopted by the WB6 Prime Ministers in Sofia on November 10.