In his remarks, Rama highlighted the upcoming NATO summit to be held in Tirana, describing it as evidence of the role Albania has assumed on the international stage.

Rama also emphasized that, despite its economic and military size, Albania has gained respect in international relations.

According to Rama, an economically, democratically and institutionally strong Albania is taking shape.

Further on, Rama spoke about the Albanian diaspora in the United States. He noted that Albanians living and working in the U.S. serve as a vital bridge between their country of origin and the country where they have built their lives.

Rama stated that the bond between the diaspora and Albania remains strong, despite the distance. “Present-day Albania is no longer what it was until recently—a country that unfortunately left its people exposed and unprotected. Today, Albania stands as the ultimate shield for every Albanian, wherever they may be.”

“Today, Albania is a name and a flag respected by all—an identity, as you have witnessed firsthand, that commands universal respect. In doing so, the world respects every Albanian. This stands in stark contrast to the past, when being Albanian was a disadvantage—a constant reason to start any race on unequal footing simply because of one’s nationality. Today, no one pushes Albanians to the back of the line for who they are. On the contrary, when people hear someone is Albanian, they value them because they hold Albania itself in high regard,” said Rama.

According to him, the American Dream has not withered the Albanian roots within them.

“It was 1926—a century ago—when Faik Konica began his journey in Washington. He was Albania’s first envoy to the United States—our ambassador, as we would call him today. Faik Konica began his mission by paying his respects at President Wilson’s grave and then embarked on a marathon of meetings across America—because the USA had helped prevent Albania from vanishing; and he came and stayed here to give Albania a voice, a face and an address,” said Rama.

Further on, Rama said, “Today, a hundred years later, there are hundreds of thousands of Albanians giving Albania a voice, a face and hundreds of thousands of addresses right here in the United States.”

Rama added, “Our homeland may physically span 28,000 square kilometers, but thanks to you—and to so many others—Albania’s reach extends far beyond its borders today. More than ever, Albania exists both there and here. Albania is just as present here as it is back home.” /m.q/j.p/p.s./

Prime Minister Edi Rama shared today in social media a photo album from the ongoing construction site, within the Urban Revival Program, in the heart of Derviçan, Dropull municipality, Gjirokastra region.

Rama emphasized that the Derviçani center will be named after Konstantinos Mitsotakis.

“The Urban Revival site in the heart of Derviçan, the center of the municipality of Dropulli, which will be named after Konstantinos Mitsotakis, the first Greek prime minister who visited the minority after the fall of communism,” wrote Rama./p.s./

During the conversation in the auditorium of the Royal Institute of International Relations, “Chatham House”, in Great Britain, addressing to the former member of the European Parliament, he said that, “First of all, the name of the country is not Kosovo, it is Kosova, because Kosovo is the way the Serbs call it. Now, you are advocating for the independence of Kosovo and I humbly ask you, it is not your fault, as the propaganda has done its job, and sometimes I also say Kosovo, but as a matter of fact, it is Kosova”.

Rama emphasized that Albania and Kosovo are the same and we are one nation.

“Kosovo is not a friendly country, it is a sister-like country, and it is everything, so we are the same and for certain reasons we are a nation that lives in two states. We, Albanians, have two states. 4 prime ministers in the Balkans are Albanians. We do everything we can to help them, of course, we welcome everything they can do for us to help us. We are the same, we just have a limit, we have some rules to respect, but we are the same”, said Rama.

Asked about the union of the two countries, Rama said that this is a matter that belongs to the future and not to the moment we are talking about.

“In regard to the unification; this is not something for today, in the future everything will be evaluated on the basis of full integration between all of us in the Balkans, first of all in Europe. So, if Scotland is going to leave you, imagine us joining each other. We have to see how things will unfold in the future. At the moment, it is a different state, it is an independent state, an ethnic state, I have to give full guarantees not only for the Albanians, but also for the Serbs and so on”, emphasized Rama.

He said that, “The path is the right one, i.e. the full integration into the EU, and I cannot predict the future. I think that at the moment this is not. To talk about this topic it is not to help them, but to harm them and everyone who talks about this should be very careful”./p.s./

The SMI convention decided to make some changes in the Statute. The Chairwoman of the SMI Monika Kryemadhi resigned and the party will now be led by the Organizative Committee. The head of the Organizative Committee will be Ilir Meta and the deputy chair will be Agim Nesho.

General Secretary of SMI Endrit Braimllari stated that, “The Organizative Committee will lead the party’s activities in preparation of the National Convention which will be held in two months time.

In his speech delivered at the convention, Ilir Meta said that, “No one can play with this country. We have only one way and this way is the referendum. The referendum will be the sword of Damocles over all the usurpers, over the greedy oligarchs. It will be the guarantee that sovereignty does not belong to the people only on paper”./r.e/p.s./

In his speech held at the National Assembly of the Socialist Party today in Tirana, Rama stressed that, “The name of the Ombudsman belongs to the opposition, but I want to be very clear, I categorically exclude, in context of the opposition, the big “Non-Grata”, i.e. Sali Berisha (declared non-grata by the US) and his retinue.

“SP will reject every decision and every request that comes from that direction. This is a direction with which the policy of the SP, and the policy of Albania should have nothing to do. As far as we are concerned, we do not have and will not have any connection”.

Rama said, “Albania will continue to get elevated. Because history has been prescribed for some time in relation to the evil we drove out in 2013.”/p.s./

The Albanian Embassy in the United States of America announced that yesterday was a marked day for the entire Albanian-American community, when a street in Bronx is named after Fan Noli.

“An extraordinary honour for Fan Noli, one of the greatest national figures and especially of the Albanian Diaspora”, reads the announcement of the Embassy.

This event was organized by Mark Gjonaj, leader of the Albanian community and member of the National Council of the Diaspora, and by the VATRA.

Several senior political leaders of the city, including Senator Chuck Schumer, delivered greeting messages.

Ambassador Floreta Luli Faber emphasized in her speech that, “Fan Noli is known as a contributor to the establishment of several institutions of the Albanian Diaspora in the US, founder of the Albanian Orthodox Autocephalous Church, co-founder of the Pan-Albanian Federation Vatra and director of the newspaper “Dielli”. He was one of the strong voices for Albania’s accession to the League of Nations. He was the Prime Minister of the country, a citizen with a free spirit, a democrat and a patriot.”

“The ceremony to name one of the streets after him is organized exactly in the year of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, to which he contributed so much.”Fan Noli” Street in New York will be a compass for the younger generations, to orient them in making their contribution to the empowerment of Albania and the Albanian cause”, said Faber./a.a/p.s./

Tirana Mayor Erion Veliaj gave the news while appreciating this gesture of Tirana as a clear message that we cannot stand idly by after what is happening with Russia’s attack on Ukraine.

Together with Ambassador of Ukraine in Tirana Volodymyr Shkurov, Veliaj helped today to load the first truck with the aid collected by the citizens of Tirana for the citizens of Ukraine. He said that he is proud of all this generosity and solidarity.

“We really cannot send weapons, but we can send food and convey a message. And one of the messages we want to convey, through the Municipal Council of Tirana on Monday, is the decision to name ​ “Free Ukraine” Street a segment in the block of embassy headquarters, located next to the Ukrainian embassy. This is a message that is being given by many cities. It happens that the Russian Embassy is also located on the same street – they, and everyone else there, will have to change their address on business cards to “Free Ukraine” Street. It is a way to show that we cannot stand idly by,” said Veliaj.

On the other hand, Veliaj and Ambassador Shkurov expressed their gratitude for the solidarity of citizens and businesses that joined the call for assistance to those affected by the war in tents set up by the Municipality and the Embassy of Ukraine.

Ambassador Shkurov also praised the traditional gesture of Albanian hospitality, which is already proving its values ​​with war-torn Ukraine. “There are over 1000 offers for refugees to come from Ukraine. For this, I wanted to thank the Albanian people,” Shkurov said.

Veliaj also took the opportunity to react against the protest that was held yesterday in Belgrade. “What happened yesterday in Serbia is shameful. It is not at all an act of dignity for a country in the Balkans to protest and support Russian intervention in Ukraine. We are really offended by the fact that there are still countries nowadays that have advanced more towards the EU than us and at a critical moment, when it must show European values, there is held a protest in solidarity with Russia, which is the oppressor, the occupier, the enemy, the opponent of freedom. Therefore, Tirana must make a distinction here as well”./k.s//a.a/p.s./

Attending the square-naming event were President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the Prime Minister Edi Rama, the Speaker of the Assembly Lindita Nikolla, citizens.

“The neighbourhood built in Laç from scratch thanks to generous support of President Erdogan after the devastating earthquake of November 26, 2019”, was written, among other things, on the plaque placed in the square that bears Erdogan’s name.

The neighborhood rebuilt after Laç earthquake was rebuilt under the special care of President Erdogan.

Erdogan said today in Laç that, “Turkey will continue to stand by Albania, supporting it in every challenge” ./ k.s / j.p /p.s./

The new school in Peza, built in context of the Reconstruction Program, is named after engineer Agron Hysenlliu, former director of the Construction Institute.

Prime Minister Edi Rama shared a view of this 9-year school in the social media built according to the same standards with the best schools in the capital.

“Here’s the new school named after the excellent professional Agron Hysenlliu, who was not spared a single day helping anyone who lost shelter in the earthquake of November 26 until COVID-19 brutally departed this life”, said Rama.

The new school “Agron Hysenlliu” in Peza e Vogel has a capacity of 250 students. On its two floors, the building has 8 classrooms with 24 students each, 2 classrooms for pre-school education system, 4 laboratories of chemistry, physics, biology, library, teacher’s room, doctor’s room and psychologist.

The school bears the name of the former director of the Construction Institute, the late engineer, Agron Hysenlliu, who lost the battle to COVID-19 a year ago, leaving in the middle development projects for many neighborhoods and areas in Tirana, a part of which were affected by strong seismic tremors./m.m/ /a.a/p.s./

The school will bear the name of the famous writer Kiço Blushi, who was also the chairman of the Municipal Council of Tirana in a difficult time for the city.

“We have received a proposal from the Municipal Council, to name the school “Kiço Blushi”, a well-known screenwriter and writer. He was the chairman of the Municipal Council of Tirana at a time when he was working in spartan conditions. This name is made in memory of our friend, Kiço Blushi, but also in respect of all members of the municipal council, who do that invisible work helping that things are done in reality “, said Veliaj.

Further on, the mayor gave the good news that the school space will also serve the community of the area.

“When the children return from vacation, in Unit 8 they will find the largest school in the Republic. It is a school of 10 thousand square meters, a real salvation for them! All children will attend classes in one shift and will have the opportunity to play on sports fields, so that the whole neighborhood can use them even after school”, underlined Veliaj./m.m/j.p/p.s./