The leaders from the Southeast European countries called on the EU on Tuesday to put the region into Europe's transport and energy maps.
The leaders, who attended the Brdo-Brijuni summit, a strategic dialogue of leaders of Southeast Europe held in Dubrovnik, said they hoped EU to finance road and rail building in the region, saying poor infrastructure has impeded economic growth and free movement of people, goods and capital.
In conclusions of the summit, the eight leaders from former Yugoslav countries and Albania said they viewed the Adriatic Ionian Highway and the Munich-Istanbul railway through Ljubljana-Zagreb-Belgrade as "key projects", adding they also viewed them "as European projects from all aspects" -- planning, financing and building - all stages should be discussed, agreed and built within Europe.
The leaders suggested the European Council to organize an EU-Western Balkans Summit, according to the local media.
They reiterated in the conclusions to continue internal reform, achieve full reconciliation and open societies to further cooperation on all issues.
Good governance, sustainable economic development, rule of law and zero tolerance to corruption should remain central tasks, the conclusions said, adding special attention should be paid to high unemployment rates, especially among the youth.
Brdo-Brijuni Process, initiative by Croatian President Ivo Josipovic and Slovenia President Borut Pahor in 2013, becomes an annual informal summit of the leaders in the region.
This year, German Chancellor Angela Merkel as the guest attened the meeting. In addition, presidents from Croatia, Slovenia, Albania, Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina's three-member presidency participated the summit in Dubrovnik.
http://www.neurope.eu/article/southeast-european-leaders-urge-more-eu-support-their-transport-energy-sectors