[ALBSA-Info] News:Balkans Still Below Soviet era econ levels

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Balkans Still Below Soviet-Era Econ Levels
-World Bank

Dow Jones Newswires

WASHINGTON (AP)--Southeastern European nations have managed to
recover only 75% of the income levels they had when the region was
dominated by the Soviet Union, the World Bank said in a report Monday.

The international community must help countries in the region to achieve
peace, stability and prosperity because they can't do it on their own, the
report said. It said an approach based solely on country-by-country
reform and greater regional integration wouldn't be enough.

"In the past several years," the report said, the gap between these countries
and the rest of Europe has increased. Their lackluster growth performance
has also resulted in higher poverty, inequality and unemployment."

The 56 million people in Southeast Europe have an annual per capita
income of $2,200, half that of neighboring central Europe.

The countries covered by the report are Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria,
Croatia, Yugoslavia, the former Yugoslav republic of Macedonia and
Romania.

The report, focusing on attaining stability and prosperity in Southeast
Europe, will be presented at a donors' conference for the region to be held
March 29-30 in Brussels.

The donors'conference is expected to be the first test of credibility for a
regional stability pact that world leaders agreed upon at a summit in
Istanbul last October.

"The report sets the framework for the collaborative effort required by the
countries of Southeastern Europe and by the international community to
achieve our mutual goals for all people in the region," said Johannes Linn,
the bank's vice president for Europe and Central Asia.

A deeper and longer-lasting commitment by the countries of the region to
reform is required to overcome the legacy of conflict and poor economic
performance, the report said. Also needed is a greater cooperation among
them than has been the case in the past decade.

"The efforts of (these) countries need to be complemented by the efforts of
the international community to integrate the countries into European and
global structures and to provide assistance in key areas," the report said.

Such a joint commitment, the study continues, offers the best hope for
achieving peace and prosperity throughout the region.

The report said that while the countries of Southeast Europe are similar in
income levels and social development, they have all shared a legacy of
inadequate growth and declining living standards during the past decade of
transition from communism and wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo.

The report says core elements of a strategy for the region are:

- Moving rapidly towards trade integration within the European Union and
within Southeastern Europe and creating a stable, open environment for
developing the private sector.

- Fostering social change to reduce tensions and create the conditions for
peace and stability.

- Improving institutions and government structures and strengthening
anti-corruption efforts in the region.

- Investing in regional infrastructure to integrate the region physically with
the rest of Europe and within itself in an environmentally safe way.

Among the main topics of the conference in Brussels will be road
transportation projects to improve links with Europe.