§ 10705. Democratic and economic development and prosperity initiatives

• (a) The Secretary of State, through ongoing and new programs, should develop an initiative that—
  • (1) seeks to expand technical assistance in each Western Balkans country, taking into account local conditions and contingent on the agreement of the host country government to develop new national anti-corruption strategies;
  • (2) seeks to share best practices with, and provide training, including through the use of embedded advisors, to civilian law enforcement agencies and judicial institutions, and other relevant administrative bodies, of the Western Balkans countries, to improve the efficiency, transparency, and accountability of such agencies and institutions;
  • (3) strengthens existing national anti-corruption strategies—
    • (A) to combat political corruption, particularly in the judiciary, independent election oversight bodies, and public procurement processes; and
    • (B) to strengthen regulatory and legislative oversight of critical governance areas, such as freedom of information and public procurement, including by strengthening cyber defenses and ICT infrastructure networks;
  • (4) includes the Western Balkans countries in the European Democratic Resilience Initiative of the Department of State, or any equivalent successor initiative, and considers the Western Balkans as a recipient of anti-corruption funding for such initiative; and
  • (5) seeks to promote the important role of an independent media in countering corruption through engagements with governments of Western Balkan countries and providing training opportunities for journalists on investigative reporting.
• (b)
  • (1) It is the sense of Congress that—
    • (A) promoting stronger economic, civic, and political relationships among Western Balkans countries will enable countries to better utilize existing resources and maximize their economic security and democratic resilience by reinforcing cyber defenses and increasing economic activity among other countries in the region; and
    • (B) United States private investments in and assistance toward creating a more integrated region ensures political stability and security for the region.
  • (2) Not later than 180 days after December 18, 2025 , the Secretary of State, in coordination with the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, shall submit to the appropriate committees of Congress a regional economic development and democratic resilience strategy for the Western Balkans that—
    • (A) takes into account the efforts of the European Union, European nations, and other multilateral financing institutions;
    • (B) considers the full set of tools and resources available from the relevant agencies;
    • (C) includes efforts to ensure coordination with multilateral and bilateral partners, such as the European Union, the World Bank, and other relevant assistance frameworks;
    • (D) includes an initial assessment of—
      • (i) economic opportunities for which United States businesses, or those of other like-minded partner countries, would be competitive;
      • (ii) legal, economic, governance, infrastructural, or other barriers limiting United States economic activity and investment in the Western Balkans;
      • (iii) the effectiveness of all existing regional cooperation initiatives, such as the Open Balkan initiative and the Western Balkans Common Regional Market; and
      • (iv) ways to increase United States economic activity and investment within the Western Balkans;
    • (E) considers ways to develop human and institutional capacity and infrastructure across multiple sectors of economies, including clean energy, energy efficiency, agriculture, small and medium-sized enterprise development, health, and cyber-security;
    • (F) considers ways to assist with the development and implementation of programs or initiatives to increase economic development and prosperity in the region;
    • (G) considers ways to support small- and medium-sized businesses, including youth-owned and women-owned enterprises;
    • (H) considers ways to promote government and civil society policies and programs that combat corruption and encourage transparency (including by supporting independent media by promoting the safety and security of journalists), free and fair competition, sound governance, judicial reform, environmental stewardship, and business environments conducive to sustainable and inclusive economic growth; and
    • (I) includes a public diplomacy strategy that describes the actions that will be taken by relevant agencies to increase support for the United States relationship by citizens of Western Balkans countries.
  • (3) Not later than 90 days after December 18, 2025 , the Secretary of State shall provide a briefing to the appropriate committees of Congress that describes the progress made towards developing the strategy required under paragraph (2).
• (c)
  • (1) The Secretary of State, in coordination with the heads of other relevant Federal departments and agencies, may coordinate a regional economic connectivity and development initiative for the region comprised of each Western Balkans country and any European Union member country that shares a border with a Western Balkans country (referred to in this subsection as the “Western Balkans region”) in accordance with this subsection.
  • (2) The initiative authorized under paragraph (1) shall—
    • (A) promote private sector growth and competitiveness and increase the capacity of businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, in the Western Balkans region;
    • (B) aim to increase intraregional exports to countries in the Balkans and European Union member states;
    • (C) aim to increase United States economic activity and investments in countries in the Western Balkans;
    • (D) support startup companies, including companies led by youth or women, in the Western Balkans region by—
      • (i) providing training in business skills and leadership; and
      • (ii) providing opportunities to connect to sources of capital;
    • (E) encourage and promote increased economic activity and investment in the Western Balkans through engagement with the Western Balkans diaspora communities in the United States and abroad;
    • (F) provide assistance to the governments and civil society organizations of Western Balkans countries to develop—
      • (i) regulations to ensure fair and effective investment; and
      • (ii) screening tools to identify and deter malign foreign investments and other coercive economic practices;
    • (G) identify areas where application of additional resources and workforce retraining could expand successful programs to 1 or more countries in the Western Balkans region by building on the existing experience and program architecture;
    • (H) compare existing single-country sector analyses to determine areas of focus that would benefit from a regional approach with respect to the Western Balkans region; and
    • (I) promote intraregional economic connectivity throughout the Western Balkans region through—
      • (i) programming, including grants, cooperative agreements, and other forms of assistance;
      • (ii) expanding awareness of the availability of loans and other financial instruments from the United States Government; and
      • (iii) coordinating access to existing instruments to promote economic activity and investment that are available through allies and partners in the Western Balkans region, including the European Union and international financial institutions.
  • (3) The initiative authorized under paragraph (1) should facilitate and prioritize support for regional infrastructure projects, including—
    • (A) transportation projects that build roads, bridges, railways and other physical infrastructure to facilitate travel of goods and people throughout the Western Balkans region;
    • (B) technical support and the promotion of investments needed to meet United States and European Union standards for air travel, including screening and information sharing;
    • (C) the development of telecommunications networks with trusted providers;
    • (D) infrastructure projects that connect Western Balkans countries to each other and to countries with which they share a border;
    • (E) information exchange on effective tender procedures and transparent procurement processes;
    • (F) investment transparency programs that will help countries in the Western Balkans analyze gaps and establish institutional and regulatory reforms necessary—
      • (i) to create an enabling environment for economic activities and investment; and
      • (ii) to strengthen protections against high-risk investments;
    • (G) sharing best practices learned from the United States and other international partners to ensure that institutional and regulatory mechanisms are fair, nonarbitrary, effective, and free from corruption;
    • (H) projects that support regional energy security and reduce dependence on Russian energy;
    • (I) technical assistance and generating private investment in projects that promote connectivity and energy-sharing in the Western Balkans region;
    • (J) technical assistance to support regional collaboration on environmental protection that includes governmental, political, civic, and business stakeholders; and
    • (K) technical assistance to develop financing options and help create linkages with potential financing institutions and investors.
  • (4) All programming under the initiative authorized under paragraph (1) should—
    • (A) be open to the participation of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Serbia;
    • (B) be consistent with European Union accession requirements;
    • (C) be focused on retaining talent within the Western Balkans;
    • (D) promote government policies in Western Balkans countries that encourage free and fair competition, sound governance, environmental protection, and business environments that are conducive to sustainable and inclusive economic growth; and
    • (E) include a public diplomacy strategy to inform local and regional audiences in the Western Balkans region about the initiative, including specific programs and projects.
• (d)
  • (1) Not later than 1 year after December 18, 2025 , subject to the availability of appropriations, the Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation, in collaboration with the Secretary of State, should consider including a regional office with responsibilities for the Western Balkans within the Corporation’s plans to open new regional offices.
  • (2) Not later than 180 days after December 18, 2025 , the Chief Executive Officer of the United States International Development Finance Corporation and the Secretary of State should submit a joint report to the appropriate committees of Congress that includes—
    • (A) an assessment of the benefits of providing sovereign loan guarantees to countries in the Western Balkans to support infrastructure and energy diversification projects;
    • (B) an outline of additional resources, such as tools, funding, and personnel, which may be required to offer sovereign loan guarantees in the Western Balkans; and
    • (C) an assessment of how the United States International Development Finance Corporation, in coordination with the United States Trade and Development Agency and the Export-Import Bank of the United States, can deploy its insurance products in support of bonds or other instruments issued to raise capital through United States financial markets in the Western Balkans.