In his remarks at the EU – Western Balkans Summit on the Growth and Convergence Plan with a focus on the integration of the Western Balkans towards the European Union, as well as the implementation of the Growth Plan for the Western Balkans that is being held today in Tirana, Rama said that, “Albania is up for this very challenging exercise and we will work tirelessly with everyone else to move forward quickly towards the single euro payments area, towards the facilitation of trade, transport and the digital market.”

“If we meet all the criteria for the single Euro payment area, we will reduce by 6 times the money transfer fees for our citizens abroad who send money home, since it will reduce 6 times the cost of all business transactions with EU countries”, said Rama.
“Only by doing this we in the Western Balkans can save the people’s pockets nearly half a billion euros, added Rama.

“Our ambition as Albania is to be ready in June for our application. If we reduce by only 3 hours the waiting time of our trucks at our regional border points, at the borders with the EU, we can get a general increase of 25 billion euros, 3%”, emphasized Rama.

But, said Rama, “to get there we need to carry out a rather complex process and I can share here that based on the experience of the Open Balkan, where Albania, Serbia and North Macedonia made efforts to speed up this process, this exercise is not easy at all.”

“If we manage to get our 500 municipalities included in the Western Balkans Wi-Fi in Public Spaces program, which is actually a new twin of the EU program for free internet in public areas, we will take the entire society of the region to a whole new level in terms of fast, high-quality services”, said Rama.

I cannot emphasize more than this the need for us all to leave Balkan politics out of this common challenge and to focus on the success of this extraordinary exercise, which is also highly beneficial,” said Rama.
/sm/