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SOFIA, Oct 20 - Funding Balkan recovery after a decade of wars in former Yugoslavia hinges on speeding up reforms in the region and its ability to attract foreign investment, officials said on Wednesday.
Speaking at a three-day forum aimed at boosting investment in southeastern Europe, Bodo Hombach, head of the international Stability Pact for reconstructing the Balkans, urged countries in the region to liberalise their economies and remove obstacles to foreign investment.
``My task is to remind countries in southeastern Europe of their reform pledges and to remind European Union members of their funding pledges,'' Hombach said.
The EU announced last week it would launch membership talks with six new countries, including Bulgaria and Romania.
A meeting of donors planned for the beginning of next year is expected to discuss funding for specific infrastructure projects to be proposed by the Balkan countries, Hombach said.
The stability pact, launched earlier this year, aims to bring new prosperity to the entire area as well as help the rebuilding of countries that have emerged from the violent breakup of the former Yugoslavia.
The pact focuses on three areas -- economic, security and human rights and includes neighbouring countries Bulgaria, Romania and Macedonia which were indirectly affected by the fighting.
Bulgaria and Romania suffered huge losses due to disrupted trade links to the rest of Europe after bridges over the Danube were destroyed during the Kosovo crisis.
Albania and Macedonia, Europe's poorest countries, sheltered nearly a million ethnic Albanian refugess fleeing violence in Kosovo earlier this year.
The region suffers one of the lowest levels of foreign investment largely due to its political volatility, but also due to wide-spread corruption and red tape.
``Fighting organised crime and corruption is crucial to attracting investment,'' said U.S. ambassador Richard Schifter, who heads an initiative to foster economic relations among Balkan states and help integrate them into the EU.
He urged Balkan states to cooperate and remove trade barriers, saying: ``Remove the disincentives that stand in the way of private businesses.''
World Bank chief economist Marcelo Selowsky also urged countries in the region to accelerate reforms and raise living standards to shorten their path to EU membership.
``Increasing economic growth is fundamental to reducing poverty and increasing employment. Achieving this will bring you closer to the EU. It will be a win-win situation,'' he said.