TIRANA Sept 25 /ATA/ – By I.Vata/ Prime Minister Edi Rama, in an interview with the “Voice of America” broadcast, touched upon the challenges he will address during his third term of office.
“There are many things that can be done differently and the experience developed in this task, but also the overall experience of the Socialist Party team at the helm of the country at this stage of its history, helps us approach many things differently and definitely do things better as soon as possible and above all build an even more open,straightforward, transparent and mutually beneficial relationship between the state and the citizen, which means: citizens will be served better and the state has the opportunity to receive more feedback from them and to gain a quicker understanding of what needs to be done to improve the services, ” said Rama.
Prime Minister also responded to the question about his speech at the UN General Assembly, where he raised the issue of Kosovo’s recognition by Serbia and its membership in the UN.
“I do not think that the relationship with the government of Kosovo is at a low level. I think we are in a normal relationship. Of course, the relationship between the government of Albania and the government of Kosovo has tremendous potential and as such it is never enough to say that it is good, as long as it can be further intensified. Truth of the matter is that our stands diverge on the Open Balkan Initiative, yet in my view, it is not a reason to have a friction in the relationship, instead it is a reason to talk calmly and based on arguments and mutual respect, ” he said.
Regarding the visit to New York at the West Point Military Academy, and the cooperation with this institution, Prime Minister Rama said that “our ambition is to transform the Albanian Academy of the Armed Forces”.
“Our desire and ambition is to transform the Albanian Academy of the Armed Forces into an American academy, into an institution of higher education for Albanian students, but also for students from NATO countries around us putting all the expertise, all the curricula and the knowledge of the American defense education at the disposal of youths,” he said.
As to the Diaspora Summit, Rama said that “I have met with representatives of the Albanian-American community and I think that Pandeli Majko has done a great job of completing the whole framework of reforms and the legal basis for a more sustainable work with the Diaspora, which will be covered by Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs.”
Regarding the extension of vetting institutions’ mandate, Prime Minister Rama said that “I do not want to deal with the allegations, but I want to concentrate all energies on the works related to the progress of the country and welfare of the people. “And this is one of those tasks that lie ahead.”
“Obviously we do not have the necessary number of votes to enable the extension of mandate, but on the other hand this is a reform, which is not only ours, but it is a reform that has had from the very beginning the support and guarantee of the United States of America and the European Union, and I do not believe that the opposition will be a no-show on appeal, when the votes to push ahead with this reform will be counted,” he said.
Regarding foreign investments, Rama stressed that “the truth is that there is really no comparison with 8 years ago and suffice it to bring an example to illustrate my point.”
“Countless services, which until yesterday were received after standing in long lines and delays, today are accessed in a few minutes, they are only one click away on smartphone and computer via the e-Albania platform. Of course, the citizens have been relieved from the burden of corruption. Yet we continue to grapple with corruption and that is why we are here; to keep tackling these problems through reforms, modernization such as digital systems, which have already laid the groundwork and, with the closed cycle of services, will enable us to make the omnipresent corruption in citizen – state relationship a thing of the past when it comes to service delivery.”
Prime Minister Edi Rama was also asked about the designation of former PM Berisha by the Secretary of State.
It is the Secretary of State that speaks in this case and I think that any statement in this regard would politicize even more a fact, which does not need to be commented, a fact in the eyes of all Albanians, not today, but for years on end, a fact that shows that Albania has ushered in a new era that there is no longer an unbreakable monument of corruption and obstruction of democracy that belongs to the past,” he said.
Rama also responded to the question regarding the creation of the Media and Information Agency and the reaction of the community of journalists, saying that “this is a reaction that comes from the lack of information and understanding about the role and mission of this agency.”
“The agency is built on well-established models in developed democratic countries. The Federal Republic of Germany has one and, in fact, we have followed suit. They call it the Office for Media and Information of Govt., we have the Media and Information Agency at the Council of Ministers. So is Italy, so are other countries. And this agency is irrelevant to propaganda or control, but it is about increasing the government’s capacity to interact with public opinion and information sources, in order to ensure that the information requested by the government is as timely and integral as possible in respect of the media and, on the other hand, for the government to stay abreast and of course aware of the opinions of the citizens, the opinions of the media and the opinions in the Albanian pluralistic environment,” Rama said.
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