(ANSA-AFP) - TIRANA, FEB 29 - Western Balkan leaders pushed
Thursday to speed up economic reforms in exchange for financial
aid and an accelerated path to EU membership. They gathered at a
summit in the Albanian capital to discuss the European Union's
plan to boost its integration with the region's economies. "For
the first time, we... in the Western Balkans agree that the
European Union is doing not just business as usual but the extra
mile to come closer to us, to support our economic growth and
our integration with a new growth plan," Albania's Prime
Minister Edi Rama told reporters. The bloc has vowed to help
double the economy of the Western Balkans over the next 10
years, with a six-billion-euro ($6.35 billion) growth plan.
(ANSA-AFP).
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