Macedonian President Gjorge Ivanov said that the Brdo-Brioni process regional conference in Sarajevo was an opportunity to discuss the economic cooperation, but also to prepare for the danger of a new wave of migrants, which, Ivanov said, is apparently underway. Italian President Sergio Mattarella joined the Presidents of Macedonia, Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia at the conference, and said that Italy is already facing a re-opening of the central Mediterranean migrant route.
"I noted that Macedonia has expanded its resources. Our Army and police forces are using their budgets to tackle the security element of the crisis, while the humanitarian aspect is covered by international organizations, our domestic companies and by a number of humane people. But, we are exhausted. If a second wave comes, that we will find a way to approach it much more efficiently, in a much faster manner, because during the first wave, there were many missteps between the European institutions and finding solutions was painstaking", President Ivanov said.
MIA correspondent in Sarajevo reports that President Ivanov called on other regional countries to fall back to the reservoir of confidence that developed during the handling of the migrant crisis during the summer, when more arrivals are expected, not only at the central route, but at the Balkans, eastern Mediterranean route. "This challenge will not be resolved short term, we will face it for a number of years", Ivanov said.
According to President Ivanov, the conference in Sarajevo took off very positively, opening potential infrastructure programs in energy and transportation, and was well accompanied by the business meeting Summit 100.
The next conference of the Brdo-Brioni process will be held in Macedonia, which, President Ivanov said, will give us an opportunity to share its experiences, but also raise the issue of the blockade of its NATO and EU integrations. The conference was initiated by Slovenia and Croatia in 2013, in order to support regional cooperation.