Prime Minister Edi Rama’s closing remarks on second term in office:

 

Good day to everyone!

We are holding the first cabinet meeting in this hall since start of pandemic and at a time when this cabinet is ending its second four-year term in office.

Thanking each and every one of you, as well as others who contributed to this cabinet since September 2017, I would like to straightforwardly address few words in the public eye.

Work during an extremely difficult term in office ends positively, I believe, at a time when the earthquake first and the pandemic later dictated through an unprecedented force a change of our governing priorities. I am plainly proud that we succeeded through strong dedication, professionalism and enormous patience to address the most difficult part of these two extreme challenges, which come to the fore on the path of a government once in hundred years. The pandemic is still far from over, the reconstruction programme has also yet to complete, but we have gained a significant advantage both in handling the pandemic and tackling the earthquake effects. And in spite of any consideration over the reality, praises or criticism of our cabinet performance regarding management of these two incredibly extraordinary crises, this would be of the indelible traces of this government in the governing history in the past 30 years.

Ensuring mass vaccination and a long, professional and quality vaccination campaign has allowed us to make sure that the assault by what is becoming a third wave by the coronavirus Delta variant be relatively moderate. Unfortunately, COVID-19 fatalities are being recorded as we speak, and several infected people are in critical condition while being treated at the intensive care unit at the Mother Teresa University Hospital Centre, but their case is also a meaningful and concrete lesson for everyone to learn about the vital importance of the vaccination. None of the patients currently under ventilator-assisted breath have received the vaccines. Meanwhile, a small number of vaccinated patients among 80 hospitalized people show no severe symptoms for them to be intubated and seriously risk their lives.

As to the Sinovac vaccine sceptics, who ask for the Pfizer vaccine only, it would probably be suffice to tell them that the number of hospitalized patients, who have received both Pfizer and Sinovac vaccines, is almost equal. That’s why I would like to avail myself of this opportunity to make an appeal to those who  have yet to be vaccinated not to waste time and wait risking to contract the virus without having the ensured immunity from the vaccine, wrongly thinking that Pfizer is effective and Sinovac is not, but take advantage of the vaccination chance as soon as possible. The vaccine doesn’t protect everyone from infection, but it is totally clear that the small percentage of vaccinated people, who contract the dangerous virus, develop the required immunity to experience shorter infection time and have milder symptoms.

Get vaccinated, get vaccinated!

The world conspiracy theories and fear of the vaccine leave the human organism unarmed properly in the face of this deadly virus, which apparently will be with us this winter. The fresh coronavirus cases are rising and if we today are nevertheless quite more protected than many others in the region or elsewhere, there is only one reason; high number of vaccinated people in Albania.

People who’ve had COVID-19 need to get vaccinated against the disease too, since all science researches have established that there is no long-term natural immunity against this deadly virus.

I would like to thank the Health Minister, who during all these 18 months embodied with high civic, political and professional dignity the basic goal of this government, that of being a hard working government, even in the most difficult conditions, a government that strives with everything to be the government of the people, with the people and for the people.

Not only that but based on facts and figures, we can openly state that the unstoppable work during the second term, despite the pandemic, to improve the overall health infrastructure has made this infrastructure distinctive, like night and day, compared to our first day in office in September eight years ago, when health system was like hell for everyone.

I fully agree with the opinion of the Health Minister that without the team and whole army of medical professionals and the medical workers supporting them along the frontline of this war on the pandemic, to which they totally dedicated through sacrifices in order to protect the population, without our experts who excelled in this so challenging fight, without commitment of other state structures involved in this fight, and, most importantly, without the mass support from the citizens at key moments of the fight against COVID, Albania wouldn’t have succeeded in becoming today one of the most successful countries in this fight.

I am frankly moved by the communication I had with Doctor Najada Çomo, who became the symbol of the resistance of frontline doctors and nurses. She recently asked me to accept her resignation from her new role of the newly elected member of the Albanian Parliament, very strongly feeling the obligation not to split from her fantastic team, precisely now when the Delta variant of the virus started to fill the beds at the intensive care unit.

I would like to also publicly thank Najada, just like I did personally, for this meaningful example of the high sense of duty to serve those most in need than anyone else. I would like to express today not only a deep, humbly and wholeheartedly gratitude to all of those who have made us all proud in the fight against the invisible enemy.

The war is not over. The next autumn and winter could turn out to be very tough again, but tens of thousands of lives have been saved, the economy has been relieved from the incredible pressure of the virus thanks to them and Albania is now ending a tourist season open to everyone, again reconfirming that the country is a tourist destination with huge potential in the decade we are already in.

Unfortunately, the pandemic and the ensuing serious troubles, coupled with the earthquake effects, have impeded our plans to invest as much we would have wanted in order to further strengthen our tourist offer. So, this is something to be done in the future by best taking note on what we failed to do as much and properly because of our deficiencies, still considerable ones, in terms of a quality tourist season, like it is the case, for example, with the still opened and sometimes stinking wound of the waste and pollution in the tourist destinations, where the approach needs to be reviewed and more forces and energies need to be focused on.

Without forgetting the beaches management, which left much to be desired this season, as well as other deficiencies that still need to be tackled clearly, quickly, persistently and decisively in the future.

If we were to look back, no comparison could be definitely drawn in this area, not with eight, but even with four years ago and it would suffice for everyone to see the dramatic interest increase by leading international media about Albania as a tourist destination. Just like no comparison could be drawn with the situation eight years ago, when the country was suffocating under the waste and pollution wherever you could look at, Albania of today is much different thanks to the hard work we have done in this respect. However, for us to become unrivalled regional champions by end of this decade, the fight to protect the environment should intensify, as the primitive landfills and the troubling water and air pollution are just the most visible part of the environmental problems in today’s Albania.

Thanks to this government’s commitment and work on the infrastructure and energy sectors we have build more stable and sustainable conditions for the country’s further economic and social development in the decade we are in, when Albania is set to become a net energy exporter. The Skavica hydro-power plant project is today no longer a half century old dream in a drawer, but an ongoing project in the process thanks to the collaboration with the government of the United States, just like, also through this cooperation we have embarked on an assessment phase to turn Vlora Thermal Power Plant from a high-cost symbol of failure in the past into a gateway to the liquefied gas under the agreement we have signed with the global company EXXON.

This government paved the way to construction of two photovoltaic parks, namely the Karavasta and Spitalle photovoltaic parks, the largest in the region, which will be constructed by France’s colossus  VOLTALIA, taking Albania to the forefront of the Balkan for solar energy generation.

Ending the electricity theft madness, coupled with increased investment in the power distribution network, as well as construction of the interconnection line with Kosovo, make the situation in Albania’s power sector today incomparable to what we inherited when we took office eight years ago, while the investment programme launched during the second term in office are a cause for enthusiasm to see Albania a regional champion of renewable production by 2030.

On the other hand, thanks to the dedicated and voluminous work carried out by the relevant department, as well as thanks to the persistent leadership of the Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, although at a very difficult moment, the region of Kukes is finally home to an international airport, work on design and implementation of Vlora international airport has now ushered in a final stage, the international tender for construction of the tourist Saranda airport has been launched, Arberi Road project is nearing completion on schedule, Delvinë-Kardhiq road too, as there are many other important national infrastructure projects, which have been finalized or are being constructed in compliance with the European standards.

Albania has today its national carrier Air Albania, which has withstood the pandemic’s relentless blow on air transport and will usher in a new phase of boosting the fleet of its aircraft once the pandemic is over.

Likewise, the agreement on the mass investment in the Mother Teresa international airport, along with considerable reduction in its previous scandalous tariffs because of an old concessionary contract, seriously weighing on travellers, will strongly impact on the increase of influx of arrivals in Albania.

The road transport services, a long-time chronic cancer we inherited along with our former coalition partners in our first term in office, have now been transformed into one of the most significant and most encouraging examples of public service transformation in the Republic of Albania. This was totally unimaginable until we parted from our former partners four years ago, when they had converted the cars’ license plates into party membership cards and the driving licenses into ballot papers for their party. Albania today offers one of the region’s most digitalized services to drivers and, under an agreement, the country is seeking to build a regional auto park to host international motorsport races in collaboration with FIA.

In terms of the national infrastructure and the transport service, we have good reasons to believe that thanks to this cabinet we will be able to take huge leap towards delivering on Albania 2030 programme under a new cabinet, with the country’s infrastructure meeting European standards in terms of the national roads, the transport and travel services provided to citizens and the international visitors.

Tangible progress has been made in the agriculture, with the arable land area almost doubling thanks to the mass investments in the irrigation and drainage systems, and not only, the agricultural exports have almost trebled, while Albania has climbed to the top ranking for absorbing the EU funds earmarked for agriculture.

Certainly, just like in every other area, much work remains to be done in agriculture to deliver on the major objective for Albania to become a regional champion for the agricultural exports, maximizing the results either in the cultivation of land products or in the seafood harvesting.

The current cabinet has taken a step forward the work done during the first term to reform the country’s education system and further improve education standards, where a lot actually remain to be done in the efforts to deliver on our educational Albania ambition. However, I am really proud that several seemingly incurable wounds affecting our pre-university education system, from the previously partisan teacher recruitment to the countless substandard textbooks, or the university admission according to the amount of the bribe one can afford paying, the help by an influential friend or a political party, are now all a thing of the past precisely thanks to this very government.

However, I am not proud at all of the overall state of the public universities, a reality we will work hard and patiently to alter in close collaboration with the university rectors, trying at the same time to reach out and involve leading international universities in our higher education system. Albania should become a regional hub of higher education by 2030.

I am not proud at all of the current state of the school or university sports movement, which, despite some steps made compared to the time when we took office, lags actually far behind our real potential. That’s why we will specifically deal with this aspect, just like we will do with the cultural aspects of our youth and children.

It is no longer acceptable that no greater attention is paid to children, that kindergarten and nursery school teachers are not equally paid like the primary and secondary school teachers or that developers of tourist resorts or others operating in the enterprise domain are not forced to primarily think about children.

Of course, a lot has been done on the country’s cultural sector during our second term in office, either in terms of saving, preserving and re-evaluating monuments of the national cultural heritage, or in terms of efforts and commitment to further expand cultural spaces by meeting completely different quality standards, but we will deliver a lot more in pressing ahead with the National Gallery project, the new National Theatre project, implementation of the project on the new Children’s Theatre building in Tirana, which are projects already in the process, as well as a number of smaller yet important projects in many cities across the country, especially in cities and areas with high potential for tourism development.

Of course, everything we have done in this second term and what we want to do in the third one, totally depends on the economy, the country’s financial health, the constant increase of the budget revenues in the state coffers, boosting the capacities of the country’s economy and finances. We could have done a lot more to further formalize the economy, but nevertheless we have done a very valuable job with the construction of the new digital fiscalization system, which we expect to deliver a great qualitative and quantitative leap in terms of revenue management in our third term in office.

The tax cut policy, even introduction a zero tax rate on small businesses, increasing the teachers and doctors’ salaries despite the grave effects of the pandemic and the financial constraints to cope with the pandemic, while reaching out a strong hand of solidarity with those most in need, in a country that is still a modest house of Albanians and which is still a construction site in terms of consolidating its structures.

Albania has registered the highest rate in reducing unemployment in the region. This is confirmed by the international institutions in their reports compared to the scary high unemployment rate we inherited upon taking office. However, this is doesn’t suffice for us to feel proud if we were to take into consideration the fact that the minimum wage is still low, despite its constant increase over the years, or the small number of really high paying jobs.

While, it is quite clear, that just like everywhere else around the world, whether the development or the achievements along this path, have neither reduced, nor will further reduce the people demands or complaints, who always and wherever across Albania or in a super developed country, will demand more than they have, the more they see. The opportunities for more are real. We have demonstrated this and therefore we must keep demonstrating it, despite the fact that claims and complaints will never cease, but will keep increasing.

Meanwhile, the reversal of the negative trend of people leaving the country as compared to the number of those returning back home should be a top priority for the Albania 2030 programme.

Construction of four new tourist ports is in the process, with construction work on Saranda tourist harbour already underway, the work to construct Vlora port slated to kick off in the coming months if not weeks, the Shengjin port still in a preparatory phase, while the contract has been signed for construction of the largest tourist port in Durres, on which we are working round the clock. These are just one of the huge blocks under the massive and concrete foreign investments programme, which lead to a much higher economic growth. However, the economic growth would be insufficient to take Albania to the height this ruling majority should take the country by end of this decade if quality of public service delivery to the citizens doesn’t further improve, if the sense of justice in the relations between the government and the citizens doesn’t strengthen further, if no further progress is made in the practical implementation of the justice reform, and if the dividing line between us and whoever who confuses our common path with the path towards illegal profits further deepens.

Fortunately, this government has done a lot in this respect and it suffices to bear in mind the fact that digitalization of public services has eliminated long queues, long waiting times and corrupt interactions between individuals and institutions. Thanks the national platform e-Albania we have today all the courage and ambition to take the citizen-state relationship to another level during our third term in office, as well as to crack down on corruption in the administration.

Digitalization, digitalization and digitalization only in order to repel the ghost of bribery and corruption by delivering public services via the smart phones or personal computers of every citizen and removing the hand of the corrupt public officials from the citizen’s pocket will be the main leitmotif of this government.

We are ending this term in office with Albania already ranking in top of Balkan region for delivering best digital services and after having received encouraging evaluations on the public service reform by the biggest international organizations, namely the EU and the United Nations.

In the same way, we are ending this term with a series of positive results in the fight against crime and consolidating the rule of law and public order, but also being fully aware of a new crossroad we face on the eve of starting the new term, a crossroad between the stagnation in the performance of the State Police and the need to gear up and speed up the work in view of further improving performance of our State Police force that cannot be compared to the force we inherited when we embarked on this path, but a new chapter of modernization should definitely open so that the State Police live up the expectations of a country that is seeking to excel in the Mediterranean tourism market by further strengthening the sense of security and safety in every respect, from the increased road safety and quality of police conduct and performance in controlling the road traffic to the permanent and real-time digital control of the territory 24 hour a day.

Thanks to the design and the funding to support the Digital Road Traffic Center of Albania, as well as the work done so far with the digital project of the country’s roads, this challenge will be transferred to the new cabinet, but with a new guarantee base for success.

I believe every one of us could be proud of the accomplishments in the country’s defence and foreign policy during the term we are ending.

The country’s international reputation, credibility and respect of our allies and partners for our country, involvement of the Diaspora in the relations with the government like never before, the seriousness with which Albania is considered now in every international instance, the country’s image itself cannot be compared with 2013.

This government is ending its term in office having fulfilled all the conditions to open the accession negotiations with the EU and after opening a new chapter in our regional policy, as one of the initiators of the Open Balkans, which is essentially nothing else but the Berlin Process itself with a fresh speed and a new responsibility, without waiting another eight years for the four EU freedoms, freedom of movement of people, goods, services and capital, be implemented in the region, and without waiting for international partners be reminded of every next step.

I am not personally worried at all, and we shouldn’t worry during third term about debates and the shocking allegations levelled either by Pristina or Tirana regarding the Open Balkan initiative.

Smoke is being raised and fire is being started for narrow vested political interests, but the new government will press ahead in this direction without wasting a single day, while being fully confident that a lot of good work of mutual interest will be done together with the government of Kosovo, despite disagreement with Kosovo colleagues on the Open Balkan.

The new cabinet will be announced next week and you all will certainly go about your work until the last minute in office, without wasting a single workday. Fortunately, we have a champion team offering an array of choices for each role and the four-year championship already underway a day after the last elections calls for not only a good government line-up, a good chairmanship of the parliamentary group, or an effective party leadership, but also a long bench of substitutes, as they are called in collective sports, so that opportunities to energize the team in the future are granted.

This is actually our huge advantage over the rivals and we all should further nurture and cultivate this advantage.

Many thanks to all of you for your unstinting support, for your tireless cooperation, for the unconditional contribution that each and every one of you made to this government, according to its nature and ability.

My deep gratitude goes to each and every one of you for the expressive and unstinted support, for the unconditional cooperation and contribution each of you has given to this government.

Thank you once again for all this challenging period of time we spent together around the table of the Government of the Republic of Albania.

It was an honor for all of us and I wish you to keep it as such forever, regardless of whether you will be attending or not the first meeting of the new cabinet.

Thank you very much!