The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) yesterday welcomed the European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement, Olivér Várhelyi, and the heads of government of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia to its Western Balkans Investment Summit 2022.

The event was opened by EBRD President Odile Renaud Basso, who stressed in her speech that regional cooperation is vital to the economic prospects and political stability of the Western Balkans.

In his address, European Commissioner for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Olivér Várhelyi outlined the European Union’s plans to increase economic support to the region to €30 billion in the coming years. Implemented in partnership with institutional and private investors, the financing aims to speed up the region’s social and economic convergence with the EU and is expected to boost its gross domestic product by 3.6%.

“Europe does not end at Zagreb or Budapest,” Mr Várhelyi said. “The Western Balkans naturally belong here too.”

In their speeches and answers to investors’ questions, the heads of government summarised their investment priorities. All leaders spoke of plans to develop renewable energy sources, which require a regional energy system to balance the inflow of renewables into national grids and, in some countries, a change of legislation to enable large-scale private investment.

Today’s event was the fifth EBRD summit of its kind. The inaugural Western Balkans Summit which brought together all the region’s prime ministers for the first time, took place at EBRD headquarters in London in February 2014.