Mini Schengen Zone
The Open Balkan is an economic and political zone of three member states in the Balkans, those being Albania, North Macedonia and Serbia. The zone has a total area of and an estimated total population of almost 11million located in Central and Southern Europe. The official languages are Albanian, Macedonian and Serbian. Its administrative centres are the cities of Belgrade, Skopje and Tirana. With the establishment of the zone, all three member states aim to increase trade and cooperation as well as improve bilateral relations. History The idea of the Open Balkan (formerly known as Mini-Schengen Area) came in the early 1990s. It was first mentioned as an economic area between these countries of the Balkan Peninsula. The plans were eventually abandoned due to the Yugoslav Wars. The first signs of the Open Balkan emerged in 2018 as a way to improve political relations. The idea of the area was brought by Edi Rama in Berlin when he discussed it with the interested nations. Ram ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tirana
Tirana ( , ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in Albania, largest city of Albania. It is located in the centre of the country, enclosed by mountains and hills, with Dajti rising to the east and a slight valley to the northwest overlooking the Adriatic Sea in the distance. It is among the wettest and sunniest cities in Europe, with 2,544 hours of sun per year. Tirana was founded in 1614 by Ottoman Albanian general Sulejman Bargjini, Sylejman Pasha Bargjini, centered on the Sulejman Pasha Mosque, Old Mosque and ''Sulejman Pasha Tomb, türbe''. The city was fairly unimportant until the 20th century, when the Congress of Lushnjë proclaimed it as Albania's capital after the Albanian Declaration of Independence in 1912. The site of present-day Tirana has been continuously inhabited since the Iron Age and was likely the core of the Illyrian kingdom of the Taulantii, which in classical antiquity was centred in the hinterland of Durrës, Epidamnus. Following the Illyrian ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related#Naimark, Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and Insurgency, insurgencies that took place from 1991 to 2001 in what had been the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFR Yugoslavia). The conflicts both led up to and resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia, which began in mid-1991, into six independent countries matching the six Republics of Yugoslavia, entities known as republics that had previously constituted Yugoslavia: Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia, and North Macedonia, Macedonia (now Macedonia naming dispute, called North Macedonia). SFR Yugoslavia's constituent republics declared independence due to rising nationalism. Unresolved tensions between ethnic minorities in the new countries led to the wars. While most of the conflicts ended through peace accords that involved full international recognition of new states, they resulted in a massive number of d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development. The World Bank is the collective name for the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and International Development Association (IDA), two of five international organizations owned by the World Bank Group. It was established along with the International Monetary Fund at the 1944 Bretton Woods Conference. After a slow start, its first loan was to France in 1947. In its early years, it primarily focused on rebuilding Europe. Over time, it focused on providing loans to developing world countries. In the 1970s, the World Bank re-conceptualized its mission of facilitating development as being oriented around poverty reduction. For the last 30 years, it has included NGOs and environmental groups in its loan portfolio. Its ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated population of over 449million as of 2024. The EU is often described as a ''sui generis'' political entity combining characteristics of both a federation and a confederation. Containing 5.5% of the world population in 2023, EU member states generated a nominal gross domestic product (GDP) of around €17.935 trillion in 2024, accounting for approximately one sixth of global economic output. Its cornerstone, the European Union Customs Union, Customs Union, paved the way to establishing European Single Market, an internal single market based on standardised European Union law, legal framework and legislation that applies in all member states in those matters, and only those matters, where the states ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Schengen Area
The Schengen Area ( , ) encompasses European countries that have officially abolished border controls at their common borders. As an element within the wider area of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ) policy of the European Union (EU), it mostly functions as a single jurisdiction under a common visa policy for international travel purposes. The area is named after the 1985 Schengen Agreement and the 1990 Schengen Convention, both signed in Schengen, Luxembourg. Of the 27 EU member states, 25 are members of the Schengen Area. Cyprus and Ireland are the only EU member states that are not part of the Schengen Area. Cyprus aims to become part of the Schengen Area by 2026. The country is committed by treaty to join in the future, but its participation has been complicated due to the occupation of Northern Cyprus by Turkey since 1974. Ireland maintains an opt-out and operates its own visa policy. In addition to the member states of the European Union, all member states o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Zoran Tegeltija
Zoran Tegeltija (; born 29 September 1961) is a Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bosnian Serb politician serving as director of the Indirect Taxation Authority of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ITA) since June 2023. He previously served as Ministry of Finance and Treasury (Bosnia and Herzegovina), Minister of Finance and Treasury from January to June 2023. He also served as Chairman of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 2019 to 2023. Tegeltija graduated from the University of Sarajevo School of Economics and Business, School of Economics and Business at the University of Sarajevo in 1986, and later worked in customs services. A member of the Alliance of Independent Social Democrats, he was elected to the National Assembly (Republika Srpska), National Assembly of Republika Srpska in 2000. In 2004, Tegeltija was elected mayor of Mrkonjić Grad and re-elected in 2008. In 2010, Aleksandar Džombić appointed him Minister of Finance of Republika Srpska. He served as Minis ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Dritan Abazović
Dritan Abazović (, ; born 25 December 1985) is a Montenegrin politician who served as Prime Minister of Montenegro and as acting Minister of Foreign Affairs from 2022 to 2023. An ethnic Albanian, he heads the United Reform Action party. He previously served as deputy prime minister in the cabinet of Zdravko Krivokapić from 2020 until 2022. Abazović is the first ethnic Albanian and first Muslim to have served as Prime Minister of Montenegro. Early life, education and early career Abazović was born on 25 December 1985 in Ulcinj, Montenegro. Abazović is an ethnic Albanian. Having finished elementary and secondary school in Ulcinj, he graduated at the Faculty of Political Sciences at the University of Sarajevo, becoming a valedictorian and winner of the "Golden Badge" and "Golden Charter" of the University of Sarajevo. He obtained a master's degree in international relations from the University of Montenegro Faculty of Political Sciences in 2008. In 2019, he finished his ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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COVID-19 Pandemic In Europe
The global COVID-19 pandemic arrived in Europe with its first confirmed case in Bordeaux, France, on 24 January 2020, and subsequently spread widely across the continent. By 17 March 2020, every country in Europe had confirmed a case, and all have reported at least one death, with the exception of Vatican City. Italy was the first European country to experience a major outbreak in early 2020, becoming the first country worldwide to introduce a national lockdown. By 13 March 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Europe the epicentre of the pandemic and it remained so until the WHO announced it was overtaken by South America on 22 May. By 18 March 2020, lockdowns introduced in Europe affected more than 250 million people. Despite deployment of COVID-19 vaccines, Europe became the pandemic's epicentre once again in late 2021. On 11 January 2022, Dr. Hans Kluge, the WHO Regional Director for Europe said, "more than 50 percent of the population in the region wi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Durrës
Durrës ( , ; sq-definite, Durrësi) is the List of cities and towns in Albania#List, second most populous city of the Albania, Republic of Albania and county seat, seat of Durrës County and Durrës Municipality. It is one of Albania's oldest list of oldest continuously inhabited cities, continuously inhabited cities, with roughly 2,500 years of recorded history. It is located on a flat plain along the Albanian Adriatic Sea Coast between the mouths of the Erzen River, Erzen and Ishëm (river), Ishëm at the southeastern corner of the Adriatic Sea. Durrës' climate is profoundly influenced by a seasonal Mediterranean climate. Durrës was founded under the name of Epidamnos around the 7th century BC, by Ancient Greece, ancient Greek colonists from Corinth and Korkyra (polis), Corcyra in cooperation with the Taulantii, a local Illyrians, Illyrian tribe. Also known as Dyrrachium, Durrës developed as it became an integral part of the Roman Empire and its successor the Byzantine Em ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ohrid
Ohrid ( ) is a city in North Macedonia and is the seat of the Ohrid Municipality. It is the largest city on Lake Ohrid and the eighth-largest city in the country, with the municipality recording a population of over 42,000 inhabitants as of 2002. Ohrid is known for once having 365 churches, one for each day of the year, and has been referred to as the "Jerusalem of the Balkans"."The Mirror of the Macedonian Spirit, Zlate Petrovski, Sašo Talevski, Napredok, 2004, , page 72: "... and Macedonia in the Cathedral Church St. Sofia in the Macedonian Jerusalem — Ohrid..." The city is rich in picturesque houses and monuments, and tourism is predominant. It is located southwest of Skopje, west of Resen and Bitola. In 1979 and in 1980, respectively, Ohrid and Lake Ohrid were accepted as Cultural and Natural World Heritage Sites by UNESCO. Ohrid is one of only 40 sites that are part of UNESCO's World Heritage that are Cultural as well as Natural sites. Name In antiquity the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannonian Plain on the border of the Bačka and Syrmia geographical regions. Lying on the banks of the Danube river, the city faces the northern slopes of Fruška Gora and it is the fifth largest of all List of cities and towns on the river Danube, cities on the river Danube. It is the largest Danube city that is not the capital of an independent state. , the population of the city proper area totals 260,438 while its urban area (including the adjacent settlements of Petrovaradin and Sremska Kamenica) comprises 306,702 inhabitants. According to the city's Informatika Agency, Novi Sad had 415,712 residents in 2025. Novi Sad was founded in 1694, when Serb merchants formed a colony across the Danube from the Petrovaradin Fortress, a strategic Habsb ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |