Deadline Date: September 30, 2026
The Green Lanes initiative, launched at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, aims to safeguard trade and transport flows across the Western Balkans.
The initiative focuses on implementing EU-Western Balkans Green Lanes at all relevant borders while fully respecting the EU acquis and procedures, enhancing customs cooperation, modernizing border/common crossing points (BCPs/CCPs), and coordinating the development and financing of 11 priority BCPs/Green Lanes through the support of the SSTP.
During the pandemic, the Green Lanes initiative successfully ensured uninterrupted transport and trade across the region, prompting its elevation to a strategic priority linking the Western Balkans and the European Union. This priority was first established at the EU–Western Balkans Summit in Sofia in 2020 and has been reaffirmed at subsequent summits. To operationalize this commitment, the Transport Community Permanent Secretariat (TCPS) and CEFTA Secretariats prepared a Comprehensive Roadmap for Enhancing Green Lanes, Improving Customs Cooperation, and Modernizing BCPs/CCPs. This roadmap was endorsed at the Leaders’ Summit in Kotor in May 2024, with coordinated implementation planned by both EU and Western Balkans partners.
The European Commission pledged funding for the modernization of 11 priority BCPs/Green Lanes, a commitment reinforced at the EU–Western Balkans Summit in Brussels in December 2024. The Brussels Declaration emphasized that EU and Western Balkans partners should implement the Green Lanes while respecting EU procedures, and that modernization should be coordinated with neighboring EU Member States to ensure the roadmap’s objectives are fully achieved.
The SSTP provides financial support to upgrade infrastructure, equipment, systems, and soft measures required to enhance the efficiency of the 11 priority BCPs/CCPs on the Western Balkans side. The SSTP grant resources are allocated based on Expressions of Interest from the six Beneficiaries, with projects implemented by public entities such as ministries, government agencies, and state-owned enterprises within Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia. Grants finance only components within participating Beneficiaries and must be linked to World Bank lending operations that are either in advanced preparation or under implementation, with total project costs not exceeding EUR 25 million. Projects must also demonstrate a defined minimum level of preparedness through completed technical assistance deliverables provided by CONNECTA, and national authorities remain accountable for overall project implementation.
For more information, visit World Bank Group.
