7th Meeting on Common Regional Market and Green Agenda for Western Balkan

Tirana hosted 7th Meeting on Common Regional Market and Green Agenda for Western Balkans that was organized on December 5th by  the Regional Cooperation Council. The event was attended by representatives of European Commission, regional partners involved in the implementation of the CRM AP and WB6 national authorities.

The Meeting started with introductory remarks of Majlinda BREGU, Secretary General, RCC, Emir ĐIKIĆ, Director, CEFTA Secretariat and Thomas HAGLEITNER, DG NEAR, European Commission.

WB6 CIF Secretary General Ms. Tatjana Shterjova Dushkovska also participated at the event and she presented a revision of the progress achieved in the Common Regional Market Action Plan in 2022, focusing mainly on the implementation of the deliverables in line with the 2022 priority actions list. Namely, The Western Balkans Six Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF), being focused on supporting the establishment of the Common Regional Market in the Western Balkans, has been developing the WB6 CIF Supplier Development Program to ensure participation of SMEs (Small and Medium companies) in the regional and multinational supply chains and establishing new regional partnerships between WB6 companies.

The activities include mapping of suppliers from the WB6 region in selected industries, development of databases aimed at providing the necessary information to SME easing their access to markets, providing technical assistance to SMEs easing their access to finance and integration in the global supply chains, organization of networking events for SMEs from the region such as the three regional business events organized – WB6 Digital Summit, International Trade Fair in Tirana, International Economy Fair in Mostar and events aimed at increasing the capacities of regional SMEs (info days and trainings), all aiming at supporting the integration of WB6 SMEs in the regional and global supply chains.

Ms. Shterjova Dushkovska pointed out that the framework of Regional Supplier Development program and WB6 CIF support to facilitating implementation of joint CRM AP actions, 2600 WB6 SMEs have been reached with trade promotion activities, 950 SMEs received individual, tailor-made support to look for business and funding opportunities across borders. Secretary General also informed participants on the state of play regarding WB6 CIF CRM 2022 deliverables and provided an overview of the priority actions for 2023.