TIRANA, Feb  27 /ATA/- By Maela Marini/ Prime Minister Edi Rama stated on Monday from Podgorica that the European Union is a common lane whose speed is inextricably linked to that of regional cooperation.

In the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Montenegro, Dritan Abazovic, at the end of the joint govt. meeting, Prime Minister Rama focused on the challenges facing the two countries and Europe amid the war in Ukraine.

“First and foremost, I would like to express my thanks on behalf of our  delegation, not out of diplomatic courtesy, but because once again we have felt firsthand the warm reception and the fraternal affinity between us,” said Rama.

Prime Minister Rama added that Albania and Montenegro are more than neighboring countries.

We meet at a very challenging moment for all of Europe and our countries, and in this context, in addition to the direct challenges, this warmth and brotherhood in the neighborhood are of greater value. We visited Kiev and President Zelensky together in respect of our mandate as prime ministers of the two countries that have aligned themselves from the onset of Russian aggression with Ukraine. Both countries are fully aligned with the EU, both are NATO member countries,” said Rama.

The Prime Minister emphasized that “either our visit to Kiev, or our joint efforts on all these fronts, lay the foundations for a relationship that has an incredible potential to grow further.”

“The truth is that last year compared to the common evils of a war that started not simply to fragment Ukraine, but possibly to bring Europe to its knees by weaponizing the energy and triggering the exponential growth of inflation, we experienced the reality of our progress towards fully-fledged EU integration,” said Rama.

The Prime Minister added that “we have seen how the EU has ultimately become more open and sensitive to the region.”

“Finally, Albania and North Macedonia opened the EU accession negotiations. Ultimately, the Republic of Kosovo received a date for visa liberalization, just as we have seen for the first time in its history that the EU moved across its borders to hold a summit in Tirana,” Rama said.

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