In his remarks at the event, PM Rama noted that Albania is strategically positioned along the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP) project, a vital link along the Southern gas Corridor, attracting major investment in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure development projects.

A feasibility study in gasification of the south-eastern Albanian region of Korça has been already finalized as an initial step towards Albania’s gasification for household consumption, while the study on construction of the natural gas pipeline connecting TAP with Vlora Thermal Power Plant is also nearing completion and work is underway to expand capacities of the existing thermal power plant in the coastal city.

* * *

Dear President Aliyev! Dear friend and dear friends! I could not be more humble by the hospitality extended to me today and I could not be more honored by the words the President used to describe the nature of the Azerbaijan-Albania relationship, as well as our personal relationship.

Eight years ago, precisely at the third Ministerial Meeting of the Southern Gas Corridor Advisory Council, President Aliyev said, I quote: “Southern Gas Corridor establishes a very unique, very special format of international cooperation. This new experience of cooperation between countries, companies, and financial institutions will continue in many other areas.”

And indeed, this “new silk road” of energy, namely the Southern Gas Corridor has become a bridge of intense cooperation, bringing countries, companies, international financial institutions closer together in a format that only increases the aspirations and opportunities it offers.

Today, this format has turned into a bridge, with the new component of green energy becoming its dimension.

Today, we can all witness that the SGC has already improved the lives of many people and enhanced Europe’s safety. As Europe is expanding its imports of liquefied natural gas, the Southern Gas Corridor will surely be one of the few reliable and competitive sources of pipeline gas to the European Union.

Considering that the share of gas transported to Europe from Russia will decrease from 40 to eight percent and will soon be zero, and with the current relevance of ecological and decarbonization issues, Azerbaijani gas and the Caspian Basin play a crucial role in our shared future. As far as my country is concerned, we are strategically positioned on the Trans-Adriatic Pipeline route, which is a vital link along the Southern Gas Corridor. We certainly aim at further capitalizing on this transforming corridor, guiding investments towards renewable energy and sustainable infrastructure development projects.

Allow me also to share with you the fact that our Azerbaijani friends have been truly precious with their technical expertise to design the best possible scenarios to make use of our existing infrastructure and adapt it in a bid to meet current energy challenges and we couldn’t be more than so grateful for that.

We in Albania are currently seeking to move fast forward and deliver on the country’s gasification project and thanks to President Aliyev’s support for the gasification process.

Let me conclude by joining what President Aliyev noted by highlighting Azerbaijan’s initiative to host the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP).

Such an initiative is really meaningful, considering that Azerbaijan, a country so rich in fossil fuel, actually takes a step forward and says “let’s find out together how the green energy transition can be real, can be sustainable and beneficial for the rest of the entire world.

This is a very welcome initiative on the part of Azerbaijan and our extremely precious host.

Thank you very much Mr. President! Thank you everyone!

/u.sh/

Data from the Bank of Albania showed Wednesday, FDI inflow in the country’s gas and energy sector was estimated at around 121 million euros in the nine-month period of 2023.

Central Bank said that the FDI inflow in this sector fell 9% year-on-year.

Energy has led the growth in foreign direct investment in Albania over years, mainly thanks to the major investment in the TAP gas pipeline project, but also to other important projects on hydropower.

In the meantime, foreign investors are showing greater interest in construction of photovoltaic parks.

/u.sh/

The representatives of the GIZ Albania project and the Ministry of Finance and Economy held the consultation session with economic operators who produce, import, distribute or trade gas equipment and accessories, as well as representatives of the State Market Surveillance Inspectorate and the State Technical and Industrial Inspectorate, in the capacity of the relevant institutions for the inspection and implementation of the regulation.

Regulation 2016/426 came as a necessity of the EU countries for clear definitions and obligations in all links of the gas equipment market chain from production to their marketing and inspection, as well as to increase safety of consumers.

Some of the innovations that this regulation brings with its transposition into Albanian legislation are:

-establishing a standard structure for the entire chain from the trader to the producer;

-defining the same technical requirements for both gas equipment and accessories;

-the inclusion of security elements that guarantee the traceability of gas equipment or accessories from the dealer to the manufacturer.

The harmonization of new technical rules is in context of the obligations that the country must fulfill within the framework of EU membership. The process of harmonization is a complex job that requires the transposition of EU rules and standards in the current context of the country.

The process of harmonization of Regulation Regulation 2016/426 was supported with expertise by the SANECA II project – Support for Accession Negotiations in EU Economic Chapters of Acquis – financed by the German government and implemented by GIZ Albania./p.s./

In the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Croatia Andrej Plenković during his visit in Zagreb, Rama said that they also discussed on the topic of an important strategic sector such as energy, combined with infrastructure.

Rama added that, “Together with Croatia, we are part of the same plan for the Adriatic-Ionian corridor”.

“The prime minister has informed us that the Croatian government has decided to massively finance the construction of the corridor from the side of Croatia. I have informed the prime minister that at the same time we are in the process of concluding contracts for the main part of the segments of this corridor and we have definitely discussed how we should also include Montenegro in this process”, said Rama.

At the same time, Rama added, “We have specifically discussed the establishment of a joint working group between the Ministries of Energy to address the subject of the Adriatic-Ionian gas pipeline. It is high time to join potentials, knowledge, ideas and to present a unified offer in terms of investment for this very important energy corridor not only for the region, but also for Europe”./r.e/p.s./

The Ionian Adriatic Pipeline (IAP) is a proposed natural gas pipeline in Southeast Europe. It would run from Fier in Albania through Montenegro, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, to Split in Croatia.

During the joint press conference in Podgorica with Prime Minister of Montenegro Dritan Abazovic, Rama appreciated this news as very good, while emphasizing that the project should and can be accelerated only through interaction.

“It is a work that crosses many borders and many countries. We have problems when we build a work within our border. Think how challenging it is when we build a work inside and outside our country”, he said./r.e/p.s./

Taking the floor in the plenary session of the Assembly, where electricity issues are being discussed, Balluku emphasized that, “Following construction of the navigable port of Vlora, there will come all the ships that will bring American liquid gas to the Balkans replacing the Russian gas. But, you don’t like this because you are financed by Russian gas. However, you can’t help it since Albania will distribute the American gas from the port of Vlora”.

“Albania will build the first part of one of the most important projects for energy security; it will build the first part of the Adriatic-Ionian gas pipeline”, stated Balluku.

According to her, there are 33 kilometers that will connect the navigable port of Vlora with the exit point of TAP in Fier./p.s./

The agreement stipulates making the Spanish company “Enagas” a shareholder of the “Albgaz” Co.

The cooperation agreement between “Albgaz” and the Spanish company “Enagas” paves the way for both parties to work and interact together regarding important projects that the Albanian government has in the gas sector.

Present at the signing ceremony of the agreement, the Deputy Prime Minister and at the same time Minister of Infrastructure and Energy Belinda Balluku stated that Albania has launched a national strategy for energy diversification since 2019.

“Albania has been immune from Russian gas, but we are not immune from electricity imports. It is true that we produce 100% renewable energy, but even on the best days it is not more than 75% of the market’s need, which means that we are forced to import”, said the deputy prime minister.

Therefore, she added, today we need an increase in production capacity. “Renewable energy is a priority for Albania and we have launched a national energy diversification strategy since 2019. The construction of photovoltaic parks has started and that will increase the production capacity and balance the Drin cascade, while we have an excellent process with the EBRD for the construction of wind farms”, stated Balluku.

The Spanish company “Enagas” is committed not only to strongly contribute to the establishment of the entire IAP transmitter, i.e. starting from the entire western part of the Western Balkans, i.e. from Croatia to Greece, where Albania is included with the navigable port of Vlora also with the exit points that we have in our territory of the TAP gas pipeline, but it is also committed to participate in investments in natural deposits of liquid gas, but also in all the steps that we will take in the future as well in the terminal, also in the thermal power plant of Vlora, which is expected to reach 350 megawatt-hours.

“Having a new partner, the “Enagas”, we have today marked a new step to strengthen our energy system, to create new capacities and alternative sources of liquid gas production and transform Albania into one of the most important countries in the Balkans for the transmission of liquid gas, which will come to the port of Vlora and make Albania an energy factor for all of Europe,” said Balluku./j.p/r.e/p.s./

During his visit to New York, Rama was invited together with the former ambassador Richard Grenell on the American television Newsmax, on the “Wake Up America” show.

In answer to question about the war in Ukraine and how this war has affected the Albanian people, Rama said that, “First of all, I have to share with you and your audience the view that Albania is a special case, because it has a special history. We used to be the “North Korea” of Europe. We were isolated from the West and the East and had no connection with the Kremlin since 1960 for bad reasons, because our dictatorship wanted the Kremlin to remain Stalinist, to be relentlessly against any kind of dialogue with the West. But, on the other hand, this history made us completely distanced from Russia and in these 30 or so years of building democracy, we have never had serious bilateral exchanges, we have never had a Russian president visit Albania, we have never visited the Kremlin, so I don’t really miss it.”

On the other hand, added Rama, “We do not depend on Russian gas; we rely completely on renewable energy in Albania, with our problems, of course, because it is energy based on hydro resources and when the sky does not pour enough rain, we have to suffer the lack of water, we have to import, we are thus affected by the price”.

“All that being said, I conclude by saying that it is not difficult to maintain a strong stance in a country where Putin’s popularity is less than 1% and where 99% or more of the people believe that this is wrong and that this aggression is unacceptable, and that we must stand by Ukraine, and that we must stand for what we believe in,” said Rama./r.e/p.s./

In an interview after his official visit to Azerbaijan, Rama informed that, “We have decided to start a process to strengthen our bilateral relationship through energy and tourism.”

“We have been in contact with President Aliyev for a long time and we have established a very good friendship thanks to the fact that on the one hand we have a great mutual friend, President Erdogan. On the other hand, in the capacity of the OSCE Chairman-in-Office, Albania has been an unwavering supporter of the cause of Azerbaijan for the return of a part of the territory under its sovereignty. With this visit, we have actually taken an important step, not because it should be said so when a visit is made, but because we have actually decided to start a process to strengthen our bilateral relationship through energy and tourism”, said Rama.

Also, the Prime Minister stressed that, “We will work very closely for the gasification of Albania and in this regard we are to take the first very important step of a concrete work for the Ionian-Adriatic gas pipeline, which in fact connects Albania with Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia and in fact turns Albania into a very important gas distribution hub”.

On the other hand, Rama said that, “During the meeting, they had also talked about Albanian experts, Azeri experts and Turkish experts coming together to explore the possibility of building a new refinery.”

“Speaking about Azerbaijan investing in tourism in Albania, we gave the excellent example that Azerbaijan has set in Montenegro, by building an ultra-modern hospitality infrastructure. Next year, we celebrate the 30th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations with Azerbaijan and it will be a year of good news, both in terms of confirming what we have agreed on, and in terms of opening another chapter for the next 10 years”, he added.

Rama said that, “Soon in Tirana, we will have a very important first step regarding this new chapter which has to do with a closer cooperation in the field of gas supply of Albania and the region, as well as the extension of the internal gas supply network of Albania”.

Rama added that, “Investments are always related to successive steps, to studies, to projects, to financing, so these are not things that happen in the blink of an eye, but in this relationship we have laid the foundations. But, we faced a big obstacle, “It was the pandemic, which intervened very aggressively and in the meantime, among the many great evils that the war in Ukraine has brought, it has also something good, if we can call it that, the acceleration of this process.”

Meanwhile, the prime minister added that his meetings with the Speaker of the Parliament and the Prime Minister of Azerbaijan were complementary to the very long and very intense meeting with President Aliyev. /m.m/p.s./

Balluku said that, “Albania relies entirely on renewable energy”.

“I insist that for Albania the energy transition does not mean the same as for other European countries. We need security of supply. We need at least a reliable source for the production of electricity and the Vlora power plant has long been considered as such a source “, she said.

“Today, we are confident that liquefied natural gas can be the key to finally offer the final solution for the complex power plant project by choosing the best partners to carry out a project of this magnitude,” said Balluku.

“While increasing security of supply is essential, not only for us, but for all Balkan neighbors, having this low-level distribution of liquefied natural gas, can bring benefits to the entire region,” said Balluku.

Balluku underlined that, “Relying on the experience and knowledge of Exxon Mobil & Excelerate Energy, we can accelerate the introduction of natural gas in our markets, as a serious contribution to diversification and security”.

“The Albanian government is very enthusiastic to explore this opportunity with two industry leaders and would like to thank the US Department of Energy and the US Embassy for bringing us together and supporting this cooperation, which will further build on the strategic partnership between Albania and the USA. We look forward to working together and to see this project realized “, said Balluku. /j.p/p.s./