TIRANA, May 27/ATA/ Albania’s Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs issued a press release today to say that the 8th Intergovernmental Conference in Brussels welcomed and supported the European Commission’s Interim Milestone Report (IBAR), according to which Albania has achieved a sufficient level of progress in Chapter Group 1 “Fundamentals”.
At the same time, the conference also approved the EU common stance on the closing of this cluster.
The foreign ministry appreciates that this is good news for Albania and all Albanians. It marks a historic moment and constitutes another milestone in the process of Albania’s European integration.
In particular, it carries the recognition of the sustainable progress that Albania has achieved in implementing key reforms, which are of fundamental significance both for strengthening democracy and institutions in the country and for advancing towards membership in the European Union.
The foreign ministry also emphasized that the results of this meeting further consolidate the country’s European journey, strengthen the trust of our partners in the political will and institutional capacities of Albania and constitute an important investment towards the achievement of the strategic objective of full membership in the European Union within the current decade.
This achievement paves the way for the next phase of negotiations – that of closing the chapters.
Congratulating the negotiating team and all the people involved and engaged, the foreign ministry expresses gratitude to our European partners, Commissioner Kos and her team, the Cypriot Presidency, as well as all member states, for their close cooperation, understanding and continued support.
The Albanian delegation to the Intergovernmental Conference was headed by Prime Minister Edi Rama and was composed by Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Ferit Hoxha; Minister of State and Chief Negotiator Majlinda Dhuka; Minister of Interior Besfort Lamallari; Minister of Justice Toni Gogu; Minister of Economy and Innovation Delina Ibrahimaj, as well as members of the negotiating team. /m.m/ /a.g/p.s./
