(ANSA) - TRIESTE - ''Where goods pass through, soldiers don't; where there is economic integration, there are no wars.

Therefore, it's in our interest to integrate the region into the Union European'', said Italy's foreign minister, Angelino Alfano, at the opening of the Western Balkans business forum at the Trieste summit. ''We are hoping this summit will not be the summit of good wishes - Alfano stressed - but the summit of tangible results, to match the European prospect for the Balkans with an even more tangible economic agenda''. Italy is the second largest trade partner of the Western Balkans. ''This area is a market which accounts for 20 million consumers'', Alfano underlined ''with a strong mutual attraction due to geographic proximity''. Trade with Italy is worth about 7.5bn billion (about 4bn billion in exports to the six countries, and about 3 bn in imports). Two hundred and fifty Italian companies are already operating in the Balkans, accounting for a 5.5bn investment in the whole area. The attractiveness of the Western Balkans is not only due to ''economic, but also political reasons'', Alfano said, referring to the European Union. ''The challenge for the EU is to bring young Europeans into work'', to prevent them from thinking that the EU ''is not a solution but, indeed, the problem, under the growing nationalist pressure''.