“Michigan is home to one of the strongest Albanian hearts in America,” Rama said at the start of his remarks.

Referring to protests over the planned Zvernec project, which have adopted the flamingos of the Narta Lagoon as their symbol, Rama recalled a case in Michigan several years ago when a group of goose hunters first spotted a flamingo.

He said the U.S. bird-recording authority officially certified the sighting as an extremely rare occurrence.

“But as you know, this summer the flamingo became Albania’s most popular figure. It left the lagoon, came to Tirana, took over the boulevards, screens and digital spaces, and attracted attention around the world,” Rama said.

He said that until a few years ago, few would have imagined that such a bird could put Albania at the centre of an international debate over nature, development, tourism and “Trumpism.”

“Beyond the latter, which helped globalise the Zvërnec flamingo, the June protests has been significant because they attracted both public attention and support, including from Albanians in the diaspora,” Rama added.

The government head said damage to nature and wildlife in Albania had in the past failed to generate a strong public response.

He attributed the change to rising expectations and a growing belief that Albania could do more.

“Today, when many things have changed, Albanians have begun to live with the idea that ‘there can be something better’. And it was precisely this new attitude of society that the protest cemented,” Rama said.

“A society that demands more is a society that has risen, that has seen the horizon and no longer accepts lowering its gaze,” he added.

Rama concluded by calling for greater individual and social responsibility, saying that higher expectations of government and the state should be accompanied by higher expectations of oneself and respect for differing views.

“Precisely because we have learned to demand more from the government, the state and our country, we must also learn to demand more from ourselves, as part of the new Albanian society, especially in how we view one another when our views differ,” Rama said.

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Rama shared photos of the meetings on social media.

He also participated in the Western Balkans Leaders’ Meeting and senior European Union representatives’ forum focused on the Regional Growth Plan, held in Skopje. The agenda included discussions on economic cooperation, reforms, and integration toward a regional common market.

Prime Minister Edi Rama and other leaders from the region were welcomed by North Macedonia’s Prime Minister.

The event opened with remarks by North Macedonia’s Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski and EU Enlargement Commissioner Marta Kos.

Discussions centered on assessing the Growth Plan, proposals for new initiatives, and economic cooperation via the Regional Common Market, organized into two panels. Rama and other regional leaders took part in the first panel, which evaluated the plan’s pillars and initiatives related to tourism, consumer protection, and market connectivity.

The second panel brought together EU affairs ministers, EU representatives, regional organizations, and implementation partners to delve deeper into the Growth Plan’s pillars.

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The annual Byrek (Pie) Fest is one of the festive events being organized by the Albanian-American Community of Illinois-Chicago in an amazing day full of food, music, games, and the best community.

Prime Minister Edi Rama took to social media on Tuesday to share images of the fair, showcasing traditional food and delicacies from various Albanian regions.

“The Byrek Fest, a beautiful tradition established by the Albanian-American Community of Illinois-Chicago, held for second consecutive year, bringing together hundreds of Albanian country fellows at a mini-fair, showcasing traditional byrek recipes from regions all over Albania, preserving and passing art of Albanian culinary down through generations in the distant continent,” Rama wrote.

Preserving language, culture and traditions is one of the challenges facing the Albanian community in the United States. Therefore, the Albanian community strives through various organizations to preserve tradition and culture by passing it on to the younger generations.

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Posting photos from the meeting, Mayor Veliaj underlined the key role of the Albanian community there in strengthening Albania-Japan ties.

“At the end of the brief Tokyo visit, I had a meeting with the Albanian community in Japan. Though modest in size, this community is key to strengthening bilateral relations! I am very grateful to Ambassador Gjergj Teneqexhiu and Albania’s diplomatic mission in Tokyo for the hard and committed work over the years,” Mayor Veliaj said in a post on the social media X.

During his visit to Japan, Mayor Veliaj promoted the technological and economic development area TEDA Tirana during a technology summit in Tokyo.

During his visit, Tirana Mayor also met his Tokyo counterpart Yuriko Koike, with talks focusing on ways to further boost good relations and cooperation.

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During his stay, the government head met and engaged in a conversation with members of the Albanian community in Luxembourg, fellow countrymen who are best integrated into the administration, banks, and large companies in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg over the years, to discuss their possible contribution to the priority areas of Albania’s development.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: I would like to sincerely appreciate you for taking the trouble to come here and I don’t want to deliver a speech, because I think it would be more appropriate to engage in a conversation together. I am particularly interested in listening and learning as much as I can during such conversations, more so I cannot pretend to best know the context you live in and the problems you encounter or even your desires for the future or with the interaction with Albania. You certainly represent a top-notch part of the Albanian community abroad and, undoubtedly, considering this country’s spheres of economic activity, you are definitely an asset for this country and you are definitely asset for Albania itself.

At this meeting, I am accompanied the Ambassador, who needs no introduction, with the Deputy Minister of Finance, with the Director of the Innovation Agency, who was like one of you until recently and, after a long stay in the United States, he decided to return back to Albania and take over this newly-founded agency in a bid to provide greater impetus to innovation in our governance system. So, if you would ask me questions, you would help me to talk about things you are interested in and not talk about things that may be far from the scope of your interests.

As to the diaspora vote in the Albanian elections, this is not a matter of wish or readiness on our part, because we want Albanian diaspora to vote, but this is a matter of the database. We still lack a register of the migration. Despite several attempts, we have not succeeded because, as it is usually the case with Albanians when it comes to obtaining our passport or identity card, we want it on that day, at the moment we need it, but this database issue hinders us a lot to deliver on the migrants vote.

We have developed a complete plan on renewable energy and we are significantly investing through projects forwarded by various companies. It would definitely be of great interest for us to make available more financial instruments other than the classical ones, and the European Investment Bank, the EBRD are involved in renewable energy projects. However, in order for everything to be more concrete, we don’t mind it at all making entire list of projects available, plus a list of applications already underway and which may need some financial support, and figure then out how this could be achieved. It is actually our national goal to turn Albania into a net energy exporter by 2029 and make sure that the country no longer needs to import electricity. Based on this plan, solar power projects are already underway, whereas a number of wind power energy projects have also been submitted and we are confident to deliver on this objective.

You represent an important community here. It would be wise for us to make efforts and  you can help us establish contacts with local business and investors in various areas of economy.

What we can imagine for Albania is that it becomes a country that thanks to its potential tourism, energy and innovation develops the right conditions to create quality living conditions and standards and I am confident that Albania will definitely lead the region for its economy, safety, security, quality living standards and opportunities. I am really confident about this. I would like to sincerely thank you all. It was a pleasure. Not everyone had the opportunity to take the floor, but we will be at your disposal.

Thank you very much!

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