Čadež: Western Balkans Economies Need a Stronger EU Support

The European Union has to change its approach towards the Western Balkans in order to make the six economies of the region better integrated into the EU single market, thus ensuring a stronger economic growth, Marko Čadež, President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Serbia (CCIS), and President of the Managing Board of the Western Balkans 6 Chamber Investment Forum (WB6 CIF), stated.    
“In the period from 2014 to 2020, the regional GDP increased by 28 percent with the average annual growth of 4.2%, including the year 2020 and an economic drop caused by COVID-19“, Čadež said at the Business Forum “Contribution of Representatives of the Business Community to the Western Balkans’ EU Accession”.
However, he points out that the Action Plan for the Joint Regional Market has been implemented, and that the Western Balkans has been completely integrated in terms of the free movement of people, goods, services and capital, and that the average GDP annual growth in the region would amount to 6.2 percent instead of the current 4.2 percent.
“We have been far away from the results the business community wants to see. There is no division of responsibilities and sanctions for non-implementation of the Action Plan for the Joint Regional Market, and it is very difficult to measure a progress and implementation”, Čadež highlighted, who today attended the meeting of Ministers of the Western Balkans and EU countries within the Forum.
He emphasizes that the cooperation between the EU and WB6 has to be strengthened, and that the responsibility for the implementation of the Action Plan for the Western Balkans has to be fully transferred to the governments of the Western Balkans.
Čadež underscored that CIF represented 350,000 companies in the region that had given concrete proposals in accordance with the needs and requirements of business communities of the region based on the four freedoms of the European Union. 
He presented two innovative online platforms intended for the WB companies – Market Access Database and Market Intelligence Database. The first is the database on suppliers and is intended for connecting companies through B2B meetings, whereas the second platform offers 1,000 different indicators ranging from macroeconomic to the data on labour force structure in the Western Balkans.
The Forum was held within the Western Balkans Summit, which is organized within the Berlin Process, and was opened by German Federal Minister for Economic Affairs and Energy Peter Altmaier.
German Minister highlighted that the business community in the Western Balkans was the key one for the development of the region, because the largest part of its trade cooperation (75%) it has with the European Union. Germany will be host to the Western Balkans Summit on 5 July this year within the Berlin Process.
WB6 CIF Key Points of the Impulse Statement by Marko Čadež - WB6 Summit Business Forum 30.06.2021.pdf
WB6 CIF Economic Analysis and KPI - First Interim Report - June 2021.pdf
WB6 CIF DRAFT WB6 CIF Position Paper Berlin Summit June 2021.pdf