The Institute for “Women, Peace and Security,” which is chaired by former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, presented Prime Minister Rama with a recognition as a sign of gratitude.

“As a sign of our gratitude, we want to present you with an acknowledgment of your leadership for women, peace and security,” the representative of the Institute said.

Prime Minister Edi Rama, while speaking about the crisis in Afghanistan, and the reception of Afghans in Albania, said that when many other countries turned their back on them, Albania did not disappear, for it could not abandon the people in Afghanistan who were threatened by death.

“I feel very humbled to receive this token of gratitude. Usually those who are in politics are afraid of events, events are not welcome for them. Facing such events, which I welcome, is quite rare. I have to say that when I hear kind words about what we have done for Afghans, Afghan women, Afghan activists, I feel somehow embarrassed. It is sad that a country as small as Albania gets so much credit when others much richer and larger left in the face of the need of these people in Afghanistan who were threatened by death just because they trusted us, followed us and worked with us, with the entire NATO community and only because they dreamed of a different future for their country based on our promises and were encouraged by our support. All of a sudden, all this disappeared and many others disappeared thereafter, but we could not follow suit and we are more than honored to have had the opportunity to help, just as we were helped during our lives when we were the “Afghans” leaving their country in search of a better future, fleeing a cruel regime, which was not conceived as a fundamentalist regime but relied on the most ruthless form of atheism,” Rama said.
He also stressed that the participation of women in the government, which was highly appreciated during this meeting, is very important.

Rama also said that religious harmony is the most beautiful heritage that Albania cherishes.

“Men are good at talking and women are good at getting things done. I would like to bring to your attention that I am Catholic and my wife is Muslim, our two children, adults, from previous marriages are Orthodox, we also have a small child who can choose to become Jewish. I mention this example because this is the most beautiful heritage that Albania has and we must cherish it and make sure that our children will follow the path of our ancestors who saved the Jews. They were mainly Muslims who offered shelter to Jews,” Rama said.
Prime Minister went on saying that then the doors were opened for half a million citizens of Kosovo fleeing ethnic cleansing.

“But here we are, we survived and became richer in cultural and moral terms. It’s all a treasure to be cherished by future generations. To those who ask us why we did it, I answer: it is who we are. I am very proud that Albania was able to do this, I consider this as something that does not belong only to me personally, but belongs to the Albanian people. In Albania, political life is not smooth, we tend to disagree on even what time it is, but when it came to sheltering the Afghans we did not have any disagreement, and I am proud of that,” said Rama.

According to Prime Minister, every kind word for Albania is fully deserved.

“Not only for me personally but for all the Albanian people, the political parties, because none of them spoke out against that,” Rama said.
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