TIRANA, Oct 5 /ATA/ – By Maela Marini/ Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka, at a joint press conference in Tirana, with the OSCE Chairperson-in-Office, also Sweden’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ann Linde, stated that her visit to Albania is part of a regional tour and an important indicator of attention to our region.
“This visit, which is in fact part of a regional tour of Minister Linde, is an important indicator of the attention that Sweden and the Swedish OSCE chairpersonship are showing towards our region. This attention is really welcome, because as we all know, our region is requires a lot of attention and a lot of multilateral commitment right now.”
We are at a moment when the region itself, despite the difficulties and volatile situation such as the tensions in the north of Kosovo, has taken key steps forward on the path to stabilization, development and cooperation, ” Xhaçka said.
But on the other hand, Minister Xhaçka assessed that “the EU has uncertainties regarding the next steps of the region in accession process.”
“And this uncertainty, in addition to the harm it does to EU reputation, also damages the paradigm on which stability and cooperation in the Western Balkans region are built,” Xhaçka said.
Xhaçka said that “this visit, on the one hand reflects the excellent political relations between our countries, but above all I hope that this visit will open a new chapter in the relations and exchanges between us, both in the bilateral and multilateral dimension. ”
“Today we have some concrete opportunities to work closely together in important international forums such as the OSCE, or the United Nations Security Council,” she said.
Xhaçka reasserted the will of the Albanian government for comprehensive cooperation and contribution to multilateralism.
The Minister assessed that, “the active commitment of the Swedish Chairpersonship and the attention towards the region is a message about commitment and support.”
“I assured my colleague of Albania’s readiness to cooperate, not only in the region, where our country for decades now plays an important role as a pillar of stability and exporter of security, but also further, sharing with the Swedish Chairpersonship our experience at the helm of the OSCE, which was a successful experience at a really challenging time,” she said.
Xhaçka added that “our region, Albania itself, is the most irrefutable evidence of the positive transformation that multilateral engagement can bring about even in areas with seemingly unresolved conflicts.” According to her, “it is a historical experience that has shaped our country’s commitment to international organizations and multilateralism.”
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