PM Rama, Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, and North Macedonia’s PM Dimitar Kovacevski held a meeting, followed by a joint press conference:

“The three of us are here today as we succeeded to participate in one of Europe’s biggest wine production events in Europe in Verona, Italy. For the first time ever, our wine producers are showcasing their varieties in these international exhibitions, after an initial similar event we jointly launched in Belgrade last year, which will be repeated and it will certainly be a much bigger and will attract broader attention this year,” Rama said in his remarks.

“The exhibition will represent a golden opportunity to talk about our agriculture, wine production, our challenges and ambitions, and it will also represent an incredible opportunity for our producers to establish contacts with the best wine producers and traders in Europe and in a wider region,” he said.

The government head added that the exhibition was also an opportunity for the three Open Balkan leaders to share views ahead of the upcoming meetings.

“We will be meeting by end of May and a bread exhibition is set to take place in Albania in early autumn that will be followed by another wines fair,” he added.

Some 20 wine producers, representing different regions across the country, will showcase 75 best wine labels and most popular wine varieties of Albania at Vinitaly 2023, the largest wine and spirits exhibition in the world held every year in Verona, Italy.

The exhibition brings together best wine producers, winegrowers, cellar masters, oenologists, sommeliers and wine suppliers, as well as wine exhibitors from some of the most famous wineries in the world and aims to promote the region as a tourist destination.

According to the official data, Albania has a vineyard area of around 11,000 hectares and wine production increased by around 11.2 percent in the recent years. The final product is sold both in the domestic and international markets. The annual trade volume in the winemaking industry is estimated at Euro 15 million. Some 100 vineries across Albania produce over two million litres of wine.

The reported production of grapes in Albania appears to exceed that of Serbia and Montenegro. Meanwhile, the leading region for vineyard grape production is Fier followed by Berat, Elbasan, and Vlora.

/u.sh/