How to improve the movement of people and goods in the Western Balkans

The opportunities, challenges and prospects of better connecting Greece with the Western Balkans in the field of transport were the subject of the meeting held today by the Minister of Infrastructure and Transport, Christos Staikouras, with the head of the Western Balkans Transport Community, Matej Zakonjsek.

The purpose of the cooperation is the development of railway and road axes, the facilitation of cross-border crossings and the upgrading of ports, in order to improve the conditions for the movement of natural persons and the transport of goods, between Greece and the countries of the Western Balkans.

The modules of cooperation

In particular, the specifics of Greece’s cooperation with the Transport Community concern:

• reducing delays at cross-border crossing points with Albania and North Macedonia.

• the new Western Balkans – Eastern Mediterranean European Corridor, which passes through the states of the Western Balkans (North Macedonia, Albania, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Croatia), as well as

• the railway connections between Greece, the Republic of North Macedonia and Albania.

It should be noted that the Permanent Secretariat of the Transport Community provides administrative support, acts as a transport observatory and monitors the performance of the extension of the Trans-European Transport Network in the region.