Regional Leaders Discuss Reconciliation, Cooperation

The conference gathered nearly 200 participants from the United States and Europe | Photo by Eldin Hadzovic

The gathering, dubbed "Western Balkans: progress, regression or stagnation", examined regional relations and prospects for Bosnia on Monday.

Montenegro Prime Minister Igor Luksic, who attended the conference as part of his first official visit to Bosnia, said that regional relations in the Western Balkans have improved.

"Close regional cooperation sends a strong message that the countries of the region are ready to work together towards their common EU goals and in the best interest of their citizens," Luksic said.

He underlined that economic cooperation should be intensified in the coming period, putting special emphasis on the importance of bilateral agreements on border demarcation, insurance, and tourism.

Bosnia's Foreign Minister Sven Alkalaj said that he was also an optimist, adding that membership in NATO and the EU is of strategic importance to all countries in the region, despite the current crisis.

“Reaching for justice and moving forward are imperatives of reconciliation,” Alkalaj said.

The conference, which is being held over three days in Sarajevo, has gathered nearly 200 participants from the region, the United States and Europe, including members of civil society, academia, political groups and state officials.

Kosovo’s Foreign Minister Enver Hoxaj, who joined Luksic and Alkalaj at the panel on cooperation and reconcilation, said that some political circles in Serbia, but in region as well, are still manipulating the past, claiming that everyone is equally to blame for the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and in Kosovo during the 1990s.

“We, as Kosovo Albanians, are ready to forgive, but based on principles,” Hoxaj said.

The conference is organised by the SAIS Center for Transatlantic Relations at the Johns Hopkins University and the Bosnian-American Foundation.