The second joint session between the governments of Albania and North Macedonia is taking place in Skopje on Monday with the participation of the members of the respective cabinets, headed by Prime Minister Edi Rama and North Macedonia Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski, in the context of the progress as part of the cooperation between the two countries in all areas through accordance on shared efforts and steps.
Prime Minister Edi Rama and the government delegation were extended a special welcome ceremony at the Prime Minister’s office in Skopje by Prime Minister Dimitar Kovačevski and the two government heads held a bilateral meeting.
Prime Minister Edi Rama and his counterpart Kovačevski addressed the opening session of the joint governments meeting:
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Honourable Prime Minister Dimitar!
Honourable and dear colleagues and friends!
Today we are back for another important meeting, a joint session of the two governments, but in a completely different context now in terms of the situation in Europe, in our region and in our countries. Vladimir Putin’s aggression on Ukraine is hitting, destroying, inflicting wounds and displacing people from their homeland in that area, but, on the other hand, the war has been also waged to bring the West to its knees, to bring the Euro-Atlantic community to its knees, and to bring every nation in West of Russia, including Albania and North Macedonia, to their knees.
The war has reached our own countries neither through bombs nor the physical destructions or people displacement from their homes, but through the skyrocketing electricity prices in the international markets, and through the war-triggered inflation, which has caused hardship in all nations, ranging from the richest to the least rich countries, such as Albania and North Macedonia.
In this context, it is becoming increasingly clear there is no other option for us to address the challenges of hard times and the extreme hardship it has caused throughout the world, from climate change to conventional wars, but cooperate and build as many new synergies as possible and adapt to a situation in the region where each and every one of us are too small to turn our back to one another and we have a lot to do with each other.
On the other hand, we meet at this regular joint session between our two governments also in a different context in terms of our common efforts to become part of the united European family, after ultimately having crossed the huge and tormenting gap between being ready to open the accession talks and the continued refusal by the European Union. Both our countries have already their accession negotiations opened and have actually taken a huge leap forward.
The next EU-Western Balkan summit is set to take place on December 6 in Tirana and we will be there together with our wishes, problems and challenges, which are increasingly similar and equal to the wishes, problems and the challenges facing the EU member states too, and I think time is ripe for the post-war future to be projected, on one hand, with all our countries, on one hand, demanding from the EU to increasingly include us in the whole concerted effort to resist both the severe electricity prices blow and the war-driven inflation, and, on the other hand, build a common plan that would allow us look beyond this difficult, gloomy, but also unremitting phase. We don’t have to wait for the war to end so that we can project the post-war future.
I would say that Albania and North Macedonia are somehow prepared in this respect, seeking to project themselves in the future, not just individually, as two different states, but also collectively as countries in the same geographical and geopolitical area, either in terms of the Western Balkans as our region or in terms of the European Union as our destination.
I am convinced that the Open Balkan initiative has provided us with more fresh opportunities to look beyond the past to figure out how we can overcome the present, devising at the same time a future which boosts the capabilities of our countries to benefit from a space much larger than our geographical space.
We have already witnessed good outcomes of the agreements under the Open Balkan initiative, being at the same time determined and committed to remaining steadfast supporters of the Berlin Process too, being capable of looking at both initiatives as inseparable parts of one another and in no way mutually exclusive.
I wouldn’t go over the details of the agreements that the Prime Minister already elaborated and about which we will have all the time to further discuss and then reveal to the public once we sign them, but I would like reemphasize that it is time to much more strongly project and with much more ambition in the post-war future and in the meantime to get the most of it today from the persistence and ability to build a more complete synergy with the European Union.
The recent support granted by the European Union for our state budgets in terms of dealing with the energy crisis is definitely good news, but, on the other hand, if we bear in mind the fact that the assistance in promised energy crisis funds is indeed a reallocation of the IPA funds for our countries, we have to be much more ambitious and much more demanding from the European Union and we cannot become complacent, let alone be happy with this step, which is a big step indeed, if we compare it to the tragic pandemic moments, when we were left completely alone, isolated right at the heart of Europe and were denied of the opportunity to receive COVID-19 vaccines during the initial vaccine rollout phase. On the other hand, it is a half-hearted step, if we are to take into account our needs and not only what we can get, but what we can give and contribute to this whole community and this community of European nations and states.
And finally, I would like to thank the Deputy Prime Minister of your government, Artan Grubi, who is leading this joint process on your behalf and I believe he is the best Albanian among Macedonians and the best Macedonian among Albanians. It is really a privilege for us to work with such a reliable partner. I felt obligated to convey this thank you message on behalf of my entire team, because it is them who can really evaluate Artan’s and your entire team’s work and performance at the preparatory and technical level.
Thank you very much for all the dedication to this relationship. I think it is of great mutual national strategic interest for both of our countries to build as strong as possible ties, as brotherly as possible ties, as steadfast as possible the face of any storms or any type of difficult season, because we are two communicating vases that cannot exist without one another, just as we are obliged to work together for the absolute stability of our two states and at the same time for absolute harmony between Albanians and Macedonians.
Thank you so much again for the hospitality and let’s wish and hope that many tangible results are yielded for our people, in this sincere constructive and joint effort like never before.
