12 January 2009 | An idea to create a zone allowing the free movement across the borders of Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro is being considered in the region.

Kosovo and Albania have said they will sign an agreement for the creation of such a zone between themselves within two months. Currently, one can cross the border between the two countries by presenting a passport or driver’s licence.

“The agreement will enable citizens to move freely and ease the administrative procedures,” Albanian President Bamir Topi was quoted as saying by regional media, and he also dismissed the possibility of a union between Kosovo and Albania, saying that “the unification will happen in Brussels, in the European family.”

After the two states sign the agreement, their presidents plan to send it to other states in the Balkans as an example of trade liberalisation and integration on the way to the EU.

Macedonia is already considering the proposal of the presidents of Albania and Kosovo. “The idea for a visa-free regime sounds nice, it is attractive, but since it has just been introduced, we haven’t managed to look into it. We’ll have to ask the judicial experts in the Interior Ministry, to make sure there are no legal impediments,” Macedonia’s Vice-Interior Minister Zoran Petrov told the newspaper Vest.

In addition to a visa-free regime and travelling through the borders of the four countries without restrictions, the publication wrote that Topi and Kosovo’s president Fatmir Sejdiu propose as well a unified economic and external policy between the four, following the model of the Benelux countries.

Read more about Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia and Montenegro on BalkanTravellers.com