Vesna Bracanović, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Montenegrin Transmission System, participated in the Business Forum held in Trieste as part of the Western Balkan Countries Summit.
As part of the Western Balkans Countries Summit, which was held on 12 July in Trieste, a Business Forum was held at which the President of the CGES Board of Directors, Vesna Bracanović, participated. Participants at the Business Forum welcomed the Berlin Process initiative on this occasion, as well as the importance of the active participation of the Western Balkan countries and the possibility of achieving positive results in the process of connecting companies from the region with those from the EU.
As part of the Summit, the Permanent Secretariat of the Western Balkans Komor Investment Forum was opened, representing a further implementation of the 'Berlin Process' for strengthening regional cooperation in the Western Balkans.
The ceremony for the official opening of the Secretariat, hosted by Velimir Mijušković, President of the Chamber of Commerce of Montenegro, and his colleagues from the Region, was attended by the Vice-Prime Ministers and Economy Ministers of the Region's countries, representatives of the European Commission, the Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the CGES, as well as numerous Italian partners, officials and businesspeople.
Following the opening of the Secretariat, a panel discussion was held, 'Towards a Regional Economic Space in the Western Balkans – a milestone on the path to EU accession', in which Vesna Bracanović, Chair of the CGES Board of Directors, participated.
Representatives of companies from the region gave concrete recommendations and proposed solutions on how to create a regional economic space tailored to industry, and make it an instrument for accelerating development, competitiveness and employment.
Vesna Bracanović, Chairwoman of the Board of Directors of the Montenegrin Transmission System Operator, presented the significance of implementing the project to interconnect the electricity systems of Montenegro and Italy by constructing a submarine cable with Italy, along with the associated infrastructure for the entire region. This is a project with officially established special significance for the European Union, and its importance is further enhanced by its role as a catalyst, opening a new infrastructure route – the Trans-Balkan Corridor, officially recognised as a project of importance to the Energy Community, and to the countries of the Western Balkans.
The Chairwoman of the CGES Board of Directors, in her address, emphasised that the policy of building bridges with neighbours, in this specific case energy bridges through connections with Italy, and then with Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, proves to be the only correct one, because there can be no economic development, nor effective satisfaction of growing domestic needs, without integration into the single European market and without cooperation with neighbours.
When speaking of regional cooperation, Vesna Bracanović pointed out that CGES is aware of the importance and necessity of regional cooperation.
CGES is a company that collaborates with the transmission operators of neighbouring countries through the Office for Coordinated Auctions in Southeast Europe, the regional Security Coordination Centre – SCC d.o.o., and also engages in other forms of cooperation. What is of particular importance in the context of the agenda of connectivity with neighbours and, more broadly, with EU countries, is that by realising the interconnection with Italy, and subsequently with Serbia and BiH, CGES will contribute to the integration into the European market, as well as to the development of the regional electricity market. "In this way, we fully support our country's key priority, which is the completion of the accession process to the EU, by participating in and supporting regional initiatives," emphasised Bracanović.
