UK to Host Summit on Western Balkans Peace and Stability
Hillsborough Castle. X/ @irish_news
August 8, 2025 Hour: 8:40 am
Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland, Slovenia and Denmark will attend the meeting.
On Friday, the British government announced that the United Kingdom will host a summit on Oct. 8 with European foreign ministers to promote peace, stability and cooperation with the Western Balkans.
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British Foreign Secretary David Lammy will meet with his counterparts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo at Hillsborough Castle in Belfast, Northern Ireland — a region considered “vital” to the UK’s national security.
Also attending the high-level international summit will be the foreign ministers of Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Poland and Slovenia, as well as Denmark, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the European Union.
The UK government said it is placing “lasting reconciliation” between Western Balkan neighbors at the center of the talks, at a time when the region faces “growing threats of instability, corruption and criminal gangs that jeopardize the UK’s security and economic growth.”
The summit, it emphasized, is part of a broader dialogue through which London seeks to strengthen the Western Balkans’ “resilience,” address illegal migration, and boost economic development in the region.
“Hillsborough Castle represents the power of diplomacy to transform conflict and division into lasting peace and cooperation,” Lammy said, referring to the site’s historic role in negotiations that led to the 1998 Good Friday Agreement, which ended the conflict in Northern Ireland.
Drawing on Northern Ireland’s experience, the foreign secretary added, the UK hopes to support its Western Balkans partners “in overcoming the challenges of the past through meaningful reconciliation and helping build a secure and prosperous future.”
teleSUR/ JF
Source: EFE
