Western Balkans Competitiveness Outlook 2024: Regional Profile

Acknowledgements

The regional profile of the Western Balkans Competitiveness Outlook 2024 is the outcome of work co‑ordinated by the South East Europe Division. The assessment was conducted under the guidance of Andreas Schaal, Director of the OECD Global Relations and Co-operation Directorate, and Marzena Kisielewska, Head of the OECD South East Europe Division.

Umur Gökçe and Ali-Fuad Turgut (OECD South East Europe Division) led this work, which was initially also managed by Martin Kohtze. The project also benefitted from inputs by William Tompson (OECD Global Relations and Co-operation Directorate), who served as the lead reviewer of the publication.

Our special thanks also go to the government officials and other stakeholders who have been actively involved in the data collection, and whose support and dedication have made the development of this publication possible. We would like especially to acknowledge the contributions of the following individuals.

 

Economy	National Co-ordinator(s)	National Statistical Office Co‑ordinator
Albania	Elira Demiraj	Elsa Dhuli
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Brankica Pandurević (state-level) Sanela Čičić (Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina) Nataša Žugić (Republika Srpska)	Ivona Bulić (state-level)
Kosovo	Zef Dedaj, supported by Nol Buzhala and Gent Berisha	Avni Kastrati
Montenegro	Ivona Savićević and Jovana Krunić	Majda Savićević
North Macedonia	Stojne Danilova Ivanoski and Dimitar Vanchov	Marina Mijovska
Serbia	Gojko Stanivuković and Bojana Tošic, supported by Sanja Stojadinović	Nikica Rodin

The principal authors of the report were Umur Gökçe (Front matter); Damaris Bangean and Judith Koren (Context); Matija Lojpur in co-operation with Tobias Heldt, Vatsalya Sohu, Despina Anastasiadou and Marko Atanasovski (Infrastructure and Connectivity); Stephanie Lizzo (Building strong foundational skills; Easing the school-to-work transition; Matching skills with labour market needs) in co-operation with Nicola Duell (Developing skills for the future; Activating unused skills), Lucia Alonso and Miyako Ikeda (Building strong foundational skills), Burim Bilali (Expanding the skills pool), and Marko Atanasovski (Leveraging skills for innovation) (Skills); Zofia Polakiewicz (Promoting trade; Facilitating foreign direct investment) in co-operation with Benoit Dicharry (Easing access to finance), Bert Brys and Daniel Fichmann (Business taxation), Valts Kalnins (Anti-corruption), Korin Kane (State-owned enterprises) and Nicola Duell (Labour market informality) (Business environment); Despina Anastasiadou in co-operation with Marijana Petrović (Strengthening the foundations of the digital ecosystem; Encouraging the uptake of digital technologies; Embracing digital sustainability), and Judith Koren (Supporting effective and cutting-edge technological innovations) (Digital Transformation); Clémence Girin, Jovana Pavlović Djukić and Dafina Marashi (Decarbonising economies; Protecting ecosystems and citizens’ well-being; Enhancing resource efficiency and circularity) in co-operation with Tobias Heldt and Vatsalya Sohu (Decarbonising economies) (Greening).

The report benefited from further input from Sara Sultan and Alison McMeekin (OECD Directorate for Financial and Enterprise Affairs); Caitlyn Guthrie and Lucia Alonso (OECD Directorate for Education and Skills); Glenda Quintini (OECD Directorate for Employment, Labour and Social Affairs); Enrico Botta, Peter Borkey, Katarina Svatikova (OECD Environment Directorate); Theresa Gebhardt and Talya Vatman (International Energy Agency); Guineng Chen (International Transport Forum); and Efka Heder and Amir Sarajlić (GOPA Worldwide Consultants).

Our special thanks also goes to Mathieu Bousquet, Sandrine Beauchamp, Javier Menendez Bonilla, Elin Fredriksson, Ioanna Koufaki, Orla Farrel, Jerôme Benausse, David Hudson, Giada Trucco, Zsolt Toszegi, Nteivis Tsaka, Willi Stieger, Lazhare Ait Amokhtar and Tom Dautzenberg, of the European Commission’s Directorate-General Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR); the European Union (EU) delegations of the Western Balkans; and Bernardo Sala of the EU Greening facility, all of whom reviewed, provided feedback and supported the publication.

The report was prepared for publication by Jennifer Allain, with the strategic support of Robert Akam (OECD Global Relations and Co-operation Directorate). It was edited and proofread by Elizabeth Zachary. The following people also contributed to the success of the project: Dardan Gashi, Vojtech Holik and Stefano Ottino.

This report has been produced with the financial assistance of the EU. The views herein can in no way be taken to reflect the official position of the EU nor its member states.