ATHENS/BELGRADE, Serbia

The Western Balkans region is of strategic importance to Italy, the country's premier said on Monday.

"Everything that happens beyond the Adriatic (Sea) inevitably has an immediate impact on us," Giorgia Meloni said in a video message to a ministerial meeting on the Western Balkans in Rome. "Italy, therefore, has a great responsibility towards the Balkans," she added.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani promoted and chaired the meeting with the participation of his counterparts from Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, and Sweden, along with the EU's Commissioner for Neighborhood and Enlargement Oliver Varhelyi.

Meloni underlined that her government sought to strengthen Italy's economic, cultural, and political ties to the region, noting that Rome was "the first European contributor to the security of the region" with NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the EU Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (EUFOR).

Italy "intends to continue in this direction with the utmost determination," she stressed.

According to Meloni, the integrating the Western Balkans with Europe is a strategic investment in the continent's security and in the region's stability, "even more so in the current international context and in light of the growing exposure to hybrid and cyber threats."

Meloni finally emphasized that both Western Balkan nation and the EU should put more effort into the region's integration with the union, which she vowed to support.

Separately, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said Italy saw Serbia as a reliable and important friend in the Balkans.

Vucic told Serbian broadcaster Pink Tv that Meloni had held talks with him and the premiers of North Macedonia and Albania and that the conversation was fundamentally good, meaningful, and beneficial.

He added that Melona planned to visit Serbia in 2023.