Balkans

Serbia and Turkey have signed a bilateral economic free trade agreement at the annual economic summit in Istanbul, which will take effect on January 1, 2010. Serbian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Economy and Regional Development Mladjan Dinkic and Turkish Foreign Trade Minister Zafer Caglayan signed a free trade …

TIRANA, Albania Interior Minister Bujar Nishani says Albania has produced 1 million new electronic ID cards since January and that the rest will be in the hands of citizens before they need them to vote in the June 28th parliamentary elections. Nishani said on Sunday (May 31st) that there is …

Romania’s Romgaz has set up a joint venture with Russia’s Gazprom for underground gas storage facilities that will boost the country’s ability to build gas stocks and could improve supplies to the European Union, the economy minister said Monday. Romgaz and Gazprom each own 50 percent of the joint venture, …

Switzerland has signed a protocol with the European Union extending the “free movement” of people under the Schengen Agreement to Romanians and Bulgarians. This means that from June 1 2009, Bulgarians and Romanians no longer require international passports. The two countries are the latest editions to the free-movement agreement, a …

A number of concerts are scheduled form May 29 to June 4 as part of the official celebration of the Year of Bulgarian Culture in Armenia. Both countries’ Ministries of Culture implement a cultural program with the participation of Bulgarian national and classical dancing ensembles, panarmenian.net reported.

Politicians in Bosnia’s Serb-dominated entity of Republika Srpska have started a new war with the top western envoy in the country, refusing his calls to stop challenging the country’s constitution. Despite stark warnings from the head of Bosnia’s Office of the High Representative, OHR, Valentin Inzko, Bosnian Serb parties have …

Crews working on the tunnel of the new highway connecting Albania and Kosovo completed work on Sunday, inaugurating the breakthrough with a celebration ceremony attended by Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci and Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha. The 5.6-kilometre tunnel is part of the Rreshen-Kalimash road – one of the …

Any compromise between Skopje and Athens on the “name” issue will have to be approved by the people of Macedonia via a referendum, Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski reiterated on Sunday. Gruevski, who is also head of the largest ruling party, the centre-right VMRO DPMNE, made his statement during a …

US Deputy Secretary of State James Steinberg on Thursday urged Macedonia and Greece to find a creative solution to their ongoing name dispute. In an interview with the Macedonian edition of Voice of America, Hillary Clinton’s deputy pledged US help toward finding a resolution to the dispute. “We shall work …

Germany’s lower house of parliament approved a plan yesterday to extend the presence of troops in Kosovo for an additional 12 months. Deputies arguing in favour of the Kosovo troop extension said that although the situation in Kosovo had stabilized, it remained fragile. Many Western countries have begun to cut …