The summit, an initiative of US President Joe Biden, brought together world leaders, civil society and the private sector, with the aim of strengthening democracy, defending against authoritarianism, fighting corruption and respecting human rights.

PM Rama said in his remarks that as democracy needs democrats, sustainable peace needs strong democracies. It is only through international and regional cooperation that we can counter conflict, and we can bring about peace.

“It is of course a special honor and a privilege to represent Albania in this Forum of democracies of the world. It took my country a quite long time and winding journey from total isolation to being part of the community of democracies. But here we are today, still a very young democracy, yet, a proud member of the UN and NATO, OSCE and Council of Europe, a candidate member for the European Union, a strategic partner of the United States and some of the most consolidated democracies in the world and a coming non-permanent member of the Security Council,” said Rama.

In this journey, the friendship and support of the United States of America has been vital for the advancement of democratic aspirations, the strengthening of rule of law and the resiliency of our institutions.

Four years ago, the Albanian government launched one of the deepest and comprehensive reforms compared to all post-communist countries, namely the judiciary reform. In the process, and in close cooperation with the US, the EU and European member states, we are cleaning the judiciary system from over 70% of its judges and prosecutors and are now in the process of rebuilding of the judiciary

We are fully committed to ensure the successful continuation of justice reform, so that a new system of justice, impartial and independent from the executive and legislative power becomes fully operational and serves the people.

At the same time, we are committed to combat corruption and organized crime at all levels. Building on the existing successes in the area of digitalization of public services, we are investing in e-services with a view to close loopholes still vulnerable to corruption, and ensure good governance and transparency for all government processes.

In order to engage citizens in our reforms, we are launching the Open Government Partnership as a multi-stakeholder forum which will ensure meaningful public dialogue with all sectors of society.

But we are fully aware: Despite the successes, our recent history has shown that reforms are not irreversible. They must be sustained by the daily efforts of a plethora of actors and by the enhanced engagement with and integration into the Euro-Atlantic structures and institutions.

It is for this reason that EU accession negotiations will help consolidate democratic institutions, protect fundamental rights, advance the rule of law.

Finally, in the same way as democracy needs democrats, sustainable peace needs strong democracies. It is only through international and regional cooperation that we can counter conflict, and we can bring about peace.

Albania’s strong multilateralism was demonstrated during the COVID crisis, and most recently, during the Afghan crisis, when we stepped forward and decided to host thousands of evacuees. By doing thus, we honored our pledge as a NATO Ally, and as a force of good among the nations.

As Albania takes over the non-permanent seat at the UN Security Council for 2022-2023, we rely on your support and commitment to multilateralism to make the UN work better, and to find practical yet sustainable solutions for peace.

/r.e/sm/