Hill: Albania and Serbia have made a historic change working together

The US Ambassador to Belgrade, Christopher Hill, stated today that a historic change is taking place as Albania and Serbia are working together like never before.

Hill mentioned that he had recently visited Albania and heard from a senior official that one of the best things to happen to Albania was the opening of borders through the Open Balkan system.

He said that the issue of bringing the region's economic markets closer together is one of the main challenges of this century, as there was a distancing of the larger states in the Balkans at the end of the last century, and the main question for the beginning of this century is defining the ways in which the states that have distanced themselves can come together within one economic market.

"We don't want distrust to be a factor that prevents trade facilitation," Hill said at the Regional Conference on Trade Facilitation of Balkan Countries, organized by USAID, the World Bank, and the Swiss Government.

He added that the challenge is the emergence of many borders in the Balkans.

"These borders should not divide but unite countries. There are numerous efforts in regional integrations. And one of them in the Balkans is what Minister (Tomislav) Momirovic mentioned, and I will repeat it because I strongly support the initiative of the 'Open Balkan,' which aims to invite all six countries in the Western Balkans to join and work together regardless of their status, and to work on opening borders," Hill conveyed.