Today in Belgrade, the First International Fair "Open Balkan Wine Vision", which is held within the framework of the "Open Balkan" Summit, ends.

The fair was opened on September 1 by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Macedonian and Albanian Prime Ministers Dimitar Kovacevski and Edi Rama.

Nearly 400 exhibitors and wine producers from more than 22 countries participated in the "Open Balkan Wine Vision" at the Belgrade Fair, of which 160 exhibitors were from Serbia, 26 from Albania, while 47 exhibitors were from North Macedonia.

In addition to the member countries of the Open Balkans, there were also exhibitors from Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, France, Chile, Argentina, Italy, Romania, Moldova, South Africa and other countries.

Food was also in focus, as a kind of tradition, with five master chefs from North Macedonia, Serbia and Albania.

In this activity there were buyers from the EU, USA, China and other countries from the East.

A total of 300 square meters have been reserved for tourism, where the Macedonian Tourism Promotion Agency was also present.

North Macedonia under the slogan "Taste Life" participated in the Fair with 42 wineries and three distilleries that promoted over 300 different wines and brands, as well as food producers representing authentic Macedonian cuisine.

The Serbian Prime Minister, Ana Bërnabiq, yesterday awarded the "Open Balkan Wine Trophy" for the best autochthonous variety of Tikvesh for the Barovo 2019 red wine and the "Open Balkan Wine Trophy" for the "orange" variety of Kamnik for the Orange wine. 2019.

The wines were evaluated by a jury of 25 international judges, five of whom were "masters of wine".

– The summer helped us and all of you winemakers, winegrowers, distilleries helped us to strengthen even more an excellent political idea, to open new perspectives for our cooperation in the Balkans and to attract other partners from the region, in the first place from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Montenegro.

This fair in the Open Balkans showed that we have something to offer, said Bërnabiq at the award ceremony.

Defense Minister Slavjanka Petrovska yesterday in the Open Balkans met with her Serbian counterpart, Nebojsha Stefanović, with whom she discussed several topics, including defense cooperation between the two countries, as well as active participation in regional initiatives that are a catalyst for a stronger regional security and stability.

On the second day of the Open Balkans in Belgrade, the political part of the Summit was held, in which, in addition to the President of Serbia, Aleksandar Vučić, the Macedonian and Albanian Prime Ministers, Dimitar Kovacevski and Edi Rama, the Montenegrin Prime Minister also participated.

Dritan Abazović, the chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zoran Tegeltija and the ministers of foreign affairs of Hungary and Turkey, Peter Sijarto and Mevlut Çavuşoğlu.

Agreements on food security mechanisms in the Western Balkans were signed at the Summit between the ministers of agriculture of the three countries, Lupço Nikollovski, Frida Krifca and Branislav Nedimović.

A memorandum of understanding and cooperation in the field of cinematography and audiovisual activities was also signed between the Ministers of Culture from the Republic of North Macedonia, Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojčevska, from the Republic of Serbia, Maja Gojković and Elva Margariti from Albania.

An Operational Plan in the field of civil defense was also signed between the directors of the three countries.

At the opening of the leaders' summit, Prime Minister Dimitar Kovacevski emphasized that "today it is more than clear that the Republic of North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia with the initiative of the Open Balkans took the right step at a decisive moment".

"We came closer to advancing regional cooperation on the road to the EU.

Together with concrete steps we dedicated ourselves to facilitating the free movement of people, goods, trade and services and built good neighborly relations.

Today, this cooperation has opened the way to jointly face the challenges of providing food and energy.

In the conditions of the efforts of all the countries of the world to face the consequences of the war in Ukraine and the pandemic, Kovacevski said.

Deputy Prime Minister for European Affairs Bojan Maricic, Minister of Economy Kreshnik Bekteshi, Minister of Defense Slavjanka Petrovska, Minister of Transport and Communications Blagoj Boçvarski, Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy Lupço Nikolovski, Minister of Justice Nikola Tupanevski, Minister of Culture Bisera Kostadinovska-Stojčevska who held numerous bilateral meetings in Belgrade.

As part of the Open Balkans, a Macedonian evening was held in Belgrade, opened by Prime Minister Kovacevski, attended by Serbian President Aleksandar Vučić, Montenegrin Prime Minister Dritan Abazović, former Prime Minister Zoran Zaev, ministers from the Macedonian and Serbian governments, diplomatic corps of led by the US ambassador in Belgrade Christopher Hill, businessmen from several countries, representatives of the Macedonian diaspora in Serbia, and in addition to Macedonian wines and food, those present enjoyed the musical numbers of the virtuoso Vlatko Stefanovski.