Honorable Minister Ibrahimović
Thank you to you and your very dedicated team for hosting and organizing this important event to celebrate the Western Balkans Fund, and especially the Montenegrin Presidency of the Fund during 2026. More importantly, thank you for keeping regional cooperation at the top of Montenegro’s foreign policy priorities, in a year full of activities that will symbolically make Podgorica the capital of the region.
At the beginning, allow me to extend three special thanks.
Your Excellency Ambassador Huber, thank you for traveling from Tirana to be here with us today, to celebrate and to open a new chapter of cooperation between the WBF and the Swiss Government, more substantial, more ambitious, and more strategic.
Dear Director, Mr. Taguchi, thank you for joining us from Tokyo. Your presence means a lot to us. A WBF celebration is hard to imagine without Japan, one of our most valued partners.
Dear high representatives of the Ministries of Foreign Affairs from across the region, members of the WBF Council of Senior Officials, thank you for coming today, and thank you for the trust, support, and political guidance you have provided for the growth and sustainability of our Fund.
Dear Excellencies, Ambassadors and members of the diplomatic corps in Podgorica, dear partners, dear friends, ladies and gentlemen,
The video we just watched tells and shows only an important part of the WBF story. Yet it could not capture all the feeling of this journey, the trust that guided and inspired us over these eight remarkable years.
Years of confidence, worries, enthusiasm, hard work, and learning by doing. Years of achievements, and of getting to know better our region and its wonderful people.
In this period, the Western Balkans Fund has grown far beyond what we imagined at its creation. We started with a very small budget, with only one call per year. Today, we manage six grant schemes, awarding hundreds of projects, receiving thousands of applications yearly, and continuously expanding our toolbox with more schemes that boost cooperation.
During this period, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs have tripled their contribution to the WBF budget.
But there are also other elements that need to be taken into consideration. For example, the demand from civil society organizations in our region is far bigger than our capacity to support. The funding requests we receive are roughly ten times higher than what we can finance.
And this gap is not shrinking year after year. Despite our constant increase, the gap grows.
That is why today is a moment not only for cherishing and strengthening our partnership with our trusted donors, but also for forging new ones toward a bigger and stronger Fund of tomorrow.
Allow me to use this opportunity to express our gratitude to our main partners and supporters: the European Commission, the Swiss Government, the V4 countries, the International Visegrad Fund, and the Japanese Government.
In this regard, it is truly beautiful news that today we will sign a contract with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Germany. Let me express special thanks to the Ministry for joining us today and becoming part of the Fund’s next chapter of growth and development.
Excellencies, dear friends,
The world today is not the same as the one in which the Western Balkans Fund was founded—as a brilliant vision from the region, for the region.
The logic that once shaped regional cooperation is increasingly challenged by a narrower idea of success: speed over sustainability, short-term outputs over long-term resilience.
But in multilateral cooperation, success cannot be reduced to corporate logic alone. In the Western Balkans, progress lasts only when outcomes are matched by processes.
The Western Balkans Fund exists precisely to build lasting trust, to support long-term change, and to keep the region connected.
And we will do this with clear priorities for the future, also guided by the Montenegrin Presidency.
First, by investing in bridges between our people, enabling them to meet, to work, to build confidence, and to interact together.
Second, by reaffirming our original identity and ownership, fully aligned with European standards—with no imported solutions, no copy-paste approaches, but real projects and real growth built by us, together with our partners.
Third, in a time when funding for civil society is becoming more competitive and more uncertain, we will continue to be a hub for grassroots civil society organizations, especially beyond capital cities. It is a beautiful fact that more than half of our grantees come from outside capitals.
In Montenegro alone, some of the most impactful projects we have supported were not from Podgorica, but from municipalities across the country—because this is the Fund we believe in, and this is the Fund we will strengthen in the future.
Under Montenegro’s leadership, we are confident that the Fund will further strengthen its strategic role and deepen its contribution to regional cooperation and the European integration perspective of our region.
Because regional cooperation, as the Minister said, is not merely an institutional framework. It is a political commitment, a shared responsibility, and a long-term investment in stability and prosperity.
And we are glad that we are not walking alone on this path.
The European Union is with us, and we are now entering a third phase of cooperation with them. The Swiss Government, whose support has strengthened our institutional foundations. The Japanese Government, a committed partner in advancing regional dialogue. The International Visegrad Fund, our first and longstanding partner. And many other regional and international organizations that continue to support our mission.
Let me conclude by saying that the past years have shown what we can achieve collectively. The years ahead will demonstrate how much further we can go—united in purpose, supported by strong partnerships, and guided by a shared European future.
Thank you very much for your attention.
