TIRANA, Dec 1 /ATA/ Prime Minister Edi Rama received on Thursday the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who paid an official visit to our country.
In his remarks at the meeting, Rama said that Albania is very grateful to Germany.
“We are very, very grateful to Germany for everything that German governments have done for this relationship, which is at its best, I think,” said Rama.
Of course, Rama added, “we want to do more, but I would say that so far Germany’s support on all fronts has been absolutely essential for us.”
PM also spoke about the Berlin Process and thanks to which, he said, the region has witnessed very positive developments.
“We are very thankful and we think it is a very good thing to have a foreign minister President of Germany, because it is very useful, given that he is knowledgeable about the situation, the dynamics on the ground, for all countries, and especially for this region where, as you know, we also have the Berlin Process which is running, which in some way has been reorganized, renewed and thanks to this Process many good things have happened in the region. So, thank you, again!”, emphasized Rama.
For his part, President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, congratulated Albania on the opening of EU accession negotiations.
“Congratulations for achieving a milestone with the opening of accession negotiations and this is something you have worked for, supported by many of your members of parliament and most of the political elite here in Albania . And I hope that this will encourage further steps that are necessary in the journey towards Europe. We talked about reforms. We talked about the reform of the justice system, the fight against corruption. So I think progress is necessary, but progress is possible,” he said.
“My impression today in the parliament was that they are full of hope, they feel encouraged by the opening of negotiations and significant progress in the Berlin Process, also for mobility, in the hope that after implementation it will also change the atmosphere in the region” the German president said.
“We are living through times of adversity. We talked about the consequences of the Russian war against Ukraine on our economies. What is certain in the future is that we are in a different situation, meanwhile I am fully convinced, although I have been skeptical in the past, we must consider that Europe must not only show unity and determination, but it should be open to the necessary enlargement here towards the Western Balkans. Therefore, I am quite optimistic. I know there is some kind of impediment because of the wait until the membership is formalized. My impression is that even skeptical governments are convinced that we need to speed up the process, and this is a positive thing,” Steinmeier said.
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