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The Open Balkan is an economic and political zone of three member states in the Balkans, those being Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. The zone has a total area of and an estimated total population of almost 11million located in Central and Southern Europe. The official languages are Albanian, Macedonian and Serbian language. Its administrative centres are the cities of Belgrade, Skopje and Tirana. With the establishment of the zone, all three member states aim to increase trade and cooperation as well as improve bilateral relations.
The plans for the area were declared on 10 October 2019 in Novi Sad. Two meetings were held, one in Ohrid on 11 November 2019, and the other on 12 December 2019 in Durrës. These countries declared to form a unified market of 12 million people by the end of 2020. On 11 November 2019, at the 2019 Ohrid summit, the President of Serbia, the Prime Ministers of Albania and North Macedonia agreed to create an economic zone, which would further improve political and economic relations and strengthen cultural ties between the nations.
The first meeting was due to be held in January or February 2020 in Belgrade. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the meeting was postponed and a potential date for new meeting in Belgrade was tentatively scheduled for spring or summer 2020.
An Open Balkan leaders summit was held on 2 September 2022 in Belgrade. Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania signed several agreements on the exchange of food products, energy, cinematography, as well as cooperation in emergency situations. The countries also agreed to further cooperation and easing tensions in the Balkan region. Montenegrin prime minister Dritan Abazović and the chairman of the council of ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina Zoran Tegeltija also attended the summit, expressing their wishes for these countries to join the initiative.
The former name referred to the Schengen Area, a common travel area that includes 29 European countries, but not the aforementioned Balkan countries.
In this union, goods and capital between these countries would flow quicker and more than 30 million hours would be saved crossing the borders of these three countries every year. The estimate of the World Bank projects savings of $3.2 billion, of which, according to the President Vučić, Serbia would save at least $1.5 billion.
On 29 July 2021, Vučić, Edi Rama and Zoran Zaev participated in the forum for regional economic cooperation in Skopje, where they signed agreements on the movement of goods, access to the labor market and cooperation in protection against disasters. It has been agreed mutual acceptance of diplomas and job qualifications, all making work forces more flexible and available and so attracting more investment. As part of the initiative, a regional economic forum attended by some 350 companies, mostly coming from these three countries but also from the wider region, was also held.
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Three potential members are Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo.
The current currencies are the [[Albanian lek]], the [[Macedonian denar]] and the [[Serbian dinar]].
| Prime Minister Edi Rama | Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski | Prime Minister Đuro Macut |
On 3 August 2021, by an order of the President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić, four helicopters of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, have been sent to help colleagues from Ministry of Internal Affairs of North Macedonia for firefighting in North Macedonia.
On 12 May 2022, Serbian Minister of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications Tatjana Matić talked in Tirana with Albanian Minister of Tourism and Environment Mirela Kumbaro about cooperation within the "Open Balkans" initiative, with an emphasis on removing barriers and reaching an agreement in the field of tourism.
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