Trails of Peace in the Balkans.

Is economics at the root of all problems? More often than not, the answer is yes, especially when we are referring to a developing country or region where resources are scarce and infrastructure is inadequate. These are precisely the parts of the world where some of the most atrocious events of our time take place.

Recent historical evidence shows that contemporary conflicts erupt in regions plagued by underdevelopment. No matter what ideological camouflage the engaged parties may put on the conflict, they always fight for, among other things, the control, distribution and consumption of the economic resources at hand, further exacerbating the situation.

Such is the case with the Balkan crises, which some may classify as being ethnic, religious or ideological. However, the people living in the Balkans are convinced that the motives for the warring parties are economic. Why should anyone want more land and control over towns and cities (with their plants and factories, trade and infrastructure), except to have access to larger economic resources at the expense of the other parties?

I do not underestimate the cast greed and selfishness of the "national elites" who are trying to transform their administrative power in privileged economic positions and who feel no remorse for instigating bloodshed in order to achieve their goals. Nor do I close my eyes to the fact that former petty thieves and ruffians, feeding on deficient law and order, dictate the lives and destinies of thousands of common citizens. This could only happen under conditions of economic scarcity and underdevelopment that ease the task of fooling people into going to war.

People believe promises that war will bring them a bigger piece of the pie, but it actually deprives them of even the little they had before. Poverty, insufficient resources, lack of legitimate power and the absence of a desire for a lust and legal distribution thereof, cast greed and discord and breed national hatred, expansionistic tendencies, war and criminal atrocities.

If we agree that economics is the driving motive behind the warring parties, then we should look for remedies. If only 1 per cent of the billions of dollars the United States and the North Atlantic Treaty Organization spent on bombing Yugoslavia had been invested in business projects in the region at the onset of changes in Eastern Europe, perhaps the crisis would never have degenerated into war. However, this 1 per cent has not yet reached the region, despite the grandiose words and promises of American and European politicians. As a result, the fundamental reason for war--poverty--remains. Wealthy people generally do not want wars, because they have a lot to lose.

It is the poor, with nothing to lose, who fight with the hope of getting something, no matter how small.

We, in the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation (FAF), a New York-based non-governmental organization with extensive programmes in the Balkans, came to the conclusion that something must be done, and that it should be started by the people of the region (myself included). As a character of the famous Russian comic writers Ilf and Petrov says, "the key to saving the drowning is in the hands of the drowning themselves".

We therefore started a project called "Trails of Peace" to replace the path of war that wound itself across the previously warring territories of intermingled Balkan national majorities and minorities. These trails are tourist itineraries, illuminating the natural and man-made beauties of neighbouring countries, their similarities and differences, their common history and uniqueness. Tourists in these projects, initially American, Western European and Japanese, will travel to destinations in two to three countries, become acquainted with the different peoples, and come to see that they are not so different after all. The focus of interest will be on getting closer to "locals", who will meet with them and serve as their guides. Residents will have to be constantly in contact over old and new borders for their common business to be successful. They will also have to know more about each other to be able to help foreign guests compare what they see. This inter-Balkan business will also bring hard currency to all parties in the project.

We rely very much on the young participants of the Balkan Youth Reconciliation Seminar Series, organized by FAF in 1999-2001, to act as the local "engines" for this project; they already have a basis from which they can bring it to fruition. To proceed with the project, we compiled a comprehensive questionnaire covering all aspects of a destination in the region. These were then sent to the participants of the 1999-2000 Seminar Series, who brought the completed questionnaires to the last session in Timisoara, Romania, where we divided them into several groups, each organized around a single question.

The first question was: what is there to see and experience? Without ignoring the past, we decided to emphasize understanding of current culture.

We insisted on experiencing local festivals, crafts, food and drink, daily customs, and religious ceremonies--aspects which the large international tour operators did not offer. Our biggest competitive advantage over the established tour agencies was precisely that the large scale of their operations did not allow them to focus on the lifestyle of the local people. Daily life in the region is incredibly rich and encapsulates the spirit of the Balkan culture.

The next question we discussed concerned how the above aspects of culture could best be presented to tourists. Were these aspects commercially viable and, if so, to what extent? What needed to be done to make them suit our purpose? Was there a desire in the local community to make those changes?

How much would it cost and what was the cost breakdown? Finally, what help did the local inhabitants need from us, from local and state authorities and from investors? The third set of questions addressed the actual contacts on the spot: interested parties or those already involved? Local experience had led us to see that it was much more valuable to have one person fully devoted as a contact point, as opposed to having the abstract agreement of all local authorities but without any personal commitment (as is often the case).

The fourth set concerned tourism infrastructure: the availability and category of hotels, restaurants, transportation, etc. Tourists might be willing to sweat all day climbing up and down mountains to visit famous sites or partake in festivals but, at the end of the day, they would still demand a warm bath, a healthy meal and clean linens. The whole experience might be doomed to failure without the provision of appropriate amenities.

With answers to the above questions formulated, we were able to make what we called a "passport" for each destination. We then linked various destinations to a number of separate itineraries--based on geography, history, religion, music, gastronomy, architecture, choreography, etc. Thus, four or five promising "Trails of Peace"--really routes or itineraries--emerged, crossing the Balkans from east to west, north to south, or along several diagonals.

This is the stage where our project has reached to date. So far, all the work has been done on a voluntary basis, without any financial support except for the limited resources FAF had in order to bring all the participants together in person at the three seminar sessions and virtually over the Internet.

We now need to form a team of two to three persons to go along the identified "Trails of Peace" and see how the itineraries would work in actuality, assess the performance of local support and infrastructure, and estimate the true costs, etc. Tourists, who are more or less spoiled by industry standards, cannot be taken to these far-from-technically-perfect destinations without testing the routes ourselves. That much, at least, I learned from creating similar itineraries under similar circumstances in my native Bulgaria over the past twelve years. Only then will come the final planning: itinerary compilation and cost allocation; advertising and marketing; familiarization tours for operators and tourist media people; etc.

At the Friendship Ambassadors Foundation, we will not be able to make the project a success with our own resources only. Having the attention of the third-world sector, which our project enjoyed at the 55th UN DPI/NGO Conference in the fall of 2002, makes us confident that we will manage to raise the funds needed. Then we can bring--with our ideas, experience and tested solutions--the "Trails of Peace" to other warring regions, along with peace through prosperity.

Evgenii Vassilev is the project developer and manager for the Balkan Trails of Peace Project, and initiator and co-organizer of the Balkan Youth Reconciliation Seminar Series, in partnership with FAF. He also served as a member of the Board of Directors of the Equal Opportunities Society, where he initiated two NGO projects.