Balkans

Bulgarian Prime Minister (PM) Boyko Borisov will open the Annual International Defense and Security Business Conference that will be held on November 24 and 25. The Ministry of Economy, Energy and Tourism and the Ministry of Defense will host the conference devoted to the offsent program. The discussion on the …

Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov is on a three-day official visit to Greece starting November 24 2009 through to November 26 on an invitation from his Greek counterpart, Karolos Papoulias, a Government media statement said on November 24 2009. Both heads of state are set to hold talks with their respective …

Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said that Serbia’s economy and the country’s children are bearing the brunt of the consequences of the fact that the two outstanding war crimes fugitives have yet to be caught and sent to the Hague Tribunal.

The European Commission has high hopes from the forthcoming Athens-Skopje high level talks slated for Friday, Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn told media. The two countries’ Prime Ministers, Greece’s George Papandreou and Macedonia’s Nikola Gruevski, are expected to discuss modalities that should ultimately lead to the lifting of a Greek blockade …

The prime ministers of neighboring Macedonia and Greece, Nikola Gruevski and George Papandreou, will convene on Friday to talk about ways of resolving their 18 years long name row. The two will convene at the sidelines of a trilateral climate change meeting between Albania, Macedonia and Greece which will take …

Obstructions by some Serb leaders and their confusion about the division of powers between different levels of government in Bosnia are keeping the country away from prosperity and democracy, a top international official said. “There is confusion in (Bosnia’s Serb-dominated part) Republika Srpska over the nature of the entity and …

Serbia on Monday opened its largest army base Jug (South) located near Bujanovac, just few kilometers off the border with Kosovo. Serbia’s top military and state officials attended the opening ceremony. The base is located some 30 kilometers off the border between Macedonia and Serbia. Local Albanian politicians warned of …

Serbian Minister of Infrastructure Milutin Mrkonjic says that works on the Serbian part of the pan-European Corridor 10 highway will continue next year, despite the tight government budget. Mrkonjic said he can guarantee that “the last section of 307 kilometers of Corridor 10 will be finished by May 2012.”

The Netherlands will support visa liberalization and the start of Macedonia’s EU accession talks, Dutch Justice Minister Ernst Hirsch Ballin said on Monday. He made the remarks after the signing of a Memorandum of Intent for the Dutch MATRA Programme – project on strengthening the national penitentiary system in line …

A high-level Slovenian Interior Ministry delegation, led by Minister Katarina Kresal and Police Commissioner Janko Gorsek, will visit Macedonia on November 23-24. Slovenian delegation will hold meetings with President Gjorge Ivanov and Interior Minister Gordana Jankulovska.