Von der Leyen starting her visit to Western Balkans, set to arrive in Belgrade on Friday

Photo: Tanjug/AP

President of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen will start her visit to the Western Balkans in Tirana.

Recommended

She will visit Belgrade on Friday, October 25.

Von der Leyen will meet with Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic and Prime Minister Milos Vucevic during her visit to Belgrade, where she will arrive after visiting Bosnia and Herzegovina, the deputy chief spokesperson of the commission, Arianna Podesta, announced earlier.

The visit to the Western Balkans, the spokesperson stressed, comes in an important context of enlargement.

"The focus is mainly on the enlargement process, growth plans, etc., which are of key importance for the partners from the Western Balkans," she said on October 18 in Brussels.

As part of her tour of the Western Balkans Von der Leyen will, in addition to Belgrade, also visit Albania, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, and Pristina.

In Tirana, as stated by Podesta, she will first meet with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama and speak at an inauguration ceremony for the College of Europe campus in Tirana, and then the day after she will meet with Albanian President Bajram Begaj.

On the same day, she will travel to Skopje, where she will meet with Prime Minister of North Macedonia Hristiana Mickoski, and the president of that country, Gordana Siljanovska-Davkova, Podesta added.

Von der Leyen will also travel to Jablanica in Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to visit areas recently affected by the floods.

On Friday, she will be in Sarajevo, where she will meet with members of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as with the Chairperson of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bojana Kristo.

After her visit to Belgrade, the president of the European Commission will visit Pristina on Saturday, where she will meet with the president and the prime minister of the provisional institutions of Pristina, Vjosa Osmani and Albin Kurti.

Von der Leyen will conclude the visit to the Western Balkans in Podgorica, where she will meet with the country's president, Jakov Milatovic, and Prime Minister Milojko Spajic.

(Telegraf.rs/Tanjug)