TIRANA, May 30/ATA/ President of the Republic Ilir Meta reacted today to the statement of Minister of Foreign Affairs of Greece Nikos Dendias according to whom President of Albania has not given the relevant authorization to the Prime Minister to negotiate on the issue of the sea.
Minister Dendias posted his statement on the official website of the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs and that was also spread by the media in Albania”, said Meta in a press conference.
Meta said that at the request of the then Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Ditmir Bushati, he authorized the negotiating group to start the negotiation process with the Hellenic Republic for Delimitation of the Maritime Zones.
I would like to emphasize that the negotiating group of the Republic of Albania has been provided with full authority to negotiate only for the achievement of a “Draft Agreement between the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Greece for the delimitation of their maritime zones”, in order to specify the State Maritime Border Delimitation Line between the two countries.
In addition to other tasks, according to the authorization of the President of the Republic, only the Negotiating Group is the public authority mandated to negotiate with the Greek party and only what is defined in the documents given in this Authorization. The two negotiating groups held three rounds of negotiations during the period April-June 2018, (April 30, May 14-15, and June 22, 2018).
“Meanwhile, the President of the Republic was informed about some serious problems and concerns”, stressed Meta.
“To discuss the progress of the negotiation process, the President of the Republic held a meeting with the Prime Minister of Albania, on June 13, 2018. At this meeting, it was agreed that the Prime Minister would personally lead the negotiations with the Greek state. For this purpose, he would submit a new request to the President to be provided with the necessary Authorization for him (the Prime Minister) to personally lead the negotiations. But, the prime minister presented no request for authorization,” said Meta.
Meta said that, “What the Greek Foreign Minister said that the President did not authorize the Prime Minister is completely untrue. There has never been any request for authorization from the Prime Minister on this issue.”/a.a/r.e/p.s./
