Efficient transportation of people and goods ensures access to jobs and services and enables trade and economic growth in the economies. This was a key message at the Connectivity Summit, organised by the Transport Community Permanent Secretariat and the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA) Secretariat, under the auspices of the Ministry of Capital Investments of Montenegro. Deputy Prime Minister Ervin Ibrahimovic and the Director General for Neighborhood and Enlargement Negotiations Gert-Jan Koopman opened the Summit, that gathered Transport Ministers, Customs Directors, International Financial Institutions and other high-level representatives, experts and stakeholders from Western Balkans region to discuss and agree on moving forward the issues related to sustainable and efficient trade, transport and logistics.

The high-level Understanding on Indicative TEN-T Maps in the Western Balkans was signed by the EU and the Transport Community Treaty contracting parties. The establishment of the new Western Balkans- Eastern Mediterranean Corridor aims to strengthen region’s economic, social and territorial cohesion and create seamless transport systems across borders, without physical gaps, bottlenecks or missing links. The Joint CEFTA-TCT Declaration “Taking Forward the Green Lanes”, committing to further facilitate transport and trade with aim to reduce waiting times and improve the efficiency of the EU logistic and value chains, has been also endorsed. It will give further impetus to all relevant authorities to work on full extension of the Green Lanes and establishing one-stop and synchronised border controls.