TIRANA, Nov 10 /ATA/ Prime Minister Edi Rama stated on Wednesday that “the Netherlands has openly supported Albania in taking the next step forward and holding the first intergovernmental conference.”
At a joint press conference with the Dutch Prime Minister, Mark Rutte, Prime Minister Rama said that “we have talked about the moment we are in, we know very well that the Netherlands, France and Germany and all others are willing to sit down as the European Union in the first intergovernmental conference with Albania and North Macedonia to formally start the long process of negotiations, but first it is the deadlock triggered by Bulgaria’s veto that needs to be solved. ”
PM went on saying: “I thank my friend Mark for his personal role in communication with the Bulgarian side as well as others who are making every effort to bring Bulgaria closer to a solution to make sure this issue is solved before the European Council meeting in December. ”
Further on, Prime Minister Rama said that “we have a very positive working relationship and the impact of the Netherlands in Albania grows year after year on the one hand through joint projects and the support for these projects from the Dutch government through its embassy in Tirana, on the other hand, due to increasing presence of Dutch business in Albania, from the “Shell” company, which is one of the symbols of the Dutch entrepreneurship to Dutch architects who are directly involved in new developments in Albania. ”
Beyond these, Prime Minister Rama said, we see an increase in number of tourists from the Netherlands on a year to year that we hope will continue in the coming years.
“We are very glad because they come and witness a reality which is different from how Albania is oftentimes perceived in Europe and they become ambassadors of another image of our country, of our daily image,” Rama said.
Rama said that “we have talked with the Prime Minister about the cooperation in the field of security, about the fight against organized crime and we are convinced that the progress made in this cooperation will continue due to capacity building efforts made available as part of to this cooperation. ”
Rama also said that “we also talked about the possibility of supporting our universities in European universities in the framework of the European network of universities, which with the support of the EU are managing to develop fantastic synergies between different universities in the European space. ”
Prime Minister Rama said “we also talked about a more open approach to young people especially in rural areas to include them in programs for promoting entrepreneurship in the village.”
/sm/
