
Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia will set up a joint commission to help each other deal with the threat of energy and food shortages this winter due to ongoing crises amid the war in Ukraine.
This is one of the decisions taken at the meeting held in Belgrade within the "Open Balkans" initiative.
"Everything of ours will be available to North Macedonia and Albania and vice versa," said Vucic in a press conference.
Serbia is almost entirely dependent on Russian gas imports, and it generates about 70 percent of its electricity needs in its aging coal-fired power plants.
North Macedonia relies on fossil fuels and hydropower and is also dependent on electricity imports. Albania produces most of its electricity in hydropower plants and during the winter season, if the rains are abundant, it mainly exports energy.
Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama declared at this summit that Albania needs at least 500 million additional euros to ensure energy in the market.
"The best scenario for Albania would be half a billion euros (additional expenditure) for ... continuous electricity supplies", declared Rama.
Rama asked the EU not to repeat the shameful behavior, according to him, that was followed during the (COVID-19) pandemic, when the countries of the Western Balkans turned to China, Russia and Turkey for vaccines.