Topic: Necessary infrastructure for good governance, development and competitiveness

Modern, well developed infrastructure is the assumption for regional integration of Southeast Europe into the European and global spaces. Infrastructure sectors such as transport, telecommunications energy, etc. and their dynamics have a supportive effect on overall economic development and level of employment in the economies of the Western Balkan region. On the other hand, good infrastructure is an important factor of investment attractiveness in modern dynamic and competitive business conditions. This is confirmed by modern economic literature, which indicates a remarkable effect that the physical openness of an economy has on the probability of forming a good governance, encouragement of economic development and competitiveness. Millennium Development Goals indicate special needs for openness and infrastructure of underdeveloped countries that do not have access to the sea. It is considered that insufficient physical access to the global market will reduce the opportunity for development for at least one third, therefore a special importance is given to the development of physical infrastructure in energy, transportation and telecommunications. Access to infrastructure is the main content of the reforms undertaken by Serbia in these areas in accordance with binding arrangements with the European Union such as the Treaty of Energy Community of Southeast Europe, the implementation bSEE (Broadband South Eastern Europe), Action Plan on the development of broadband telecommunications in South East Europe, Open Skies Agreement, and others. However, these institutional arrangements are yet to be translated into effective improvement of physical infrastructure. High resource requirements of infrastructure projects in the region also indicates the needs for financial and technical support to European and International institutions and regional cooperation projects are an ideal mechanism to attain progress in the areas of infrastructure most efficientlyr and with respect for the need to connect national networks and systems in regional and then in the European and global networks. In other words, development of infrastructure systems often involves cooperation with partners from the region, neighbors, interregional and cross-border cooperation as well. Modern infrastructure development often involves combining different infrastructure facilities in the same area: multimodal transportation, combining of energy and telecommunications networks, and more. The work of the Working group will focus on the critical, essential elements of the infrastructure from the point of impacting on the physical openness of the country, regional cooperation, contributing to economic development, increasing the probability for the development of good governance, poverty reduction and integration into the relevant markets of the European Union.

Experts of the Working group: Marijana Vidas Bubanja i Aleksandar Kovacevic