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Balkans: Di Maio, new impetus to enlargement process needed

(ANSA) - BELGRADE, JUN 14 - "We have addressed the issue of the enlargement of the European Union to the Western Balkans," and Italy and Slovenia "share the same strategic vision. It is necessary to give new impetus to the enlargement process, starting with the negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia," the Italian Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio said today. Di Maio met the Slovenian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Anze Logar, with whom he chaired the Italy-Slovenia Ministerial Coordination Committee. "Only a tangible and credible European perspective is capable to firmly anchor the Western Balkans to Europe and to its values, and to avoid a return to nationalistic sentiments in the region," Di Maio added. Di Maio and Logar signed a joint declaration at the end of the meeting, identifying concrete follow-up actions in key-sectors such as security and migration, sustainable infrastructures and mobility, economic cooperation, environment, agriculture and fishery, and science and university. (ANSA).