After the military honors at the State Ceremony, Prime Minister Rama was welcomed to the Elysee Palace by French President Emmanuel Macron, who accompanied Prime Minister Rama to the Palace, where the respective delegations were introduced and then gave a press statement to the media.
President of the Republic of France Emmanuel Macron: Mr. Prime Minister, dear Edi.
Ladies and Gentlemen Ministers,
Madam Ambassador, Mr. Ambassador.
I am very happy, Mr. Prime Minister, that I am hosting you here as part of your official visit to France. You are at home in every sense of the word. You use our language with high proficiency, and have previously lived in our country and in this city, but you are also here because France loves you, we love you and your country, and I really wanted to host you in Paris after the reception you gave me in October, the first visit of a president of the French Republic to Albania, since its independence in 1912.
These two cross visits and the dialogue we have with each other testify to the extraordinary dynamics of the relations between Albania and France. You know you can trust my determination to intensify such relationship even more. I want to repeat the commitment of France in favor of an European Albania, of the movement we have for the Western Balkans.
As I underlined six months ago in Tirana, we are acting for the unification of Europe, to make it stronger, more sovereign in the context of Russian aggression against Ukraine, but also in the face of common threats and challenges. This is also a promise of peace for the entire region. Since the holding of the first intergovernmental conference between the EU and Albania in July 2022, Albania has continued its European path with determination.
You can count on our support to accompany you on this path, in order for the negotiations to proceed as quickly as possible, and I tell you that we are impressed by the totality of the reforms and the capacities to advance in all these last years under your direction.
I also want to welcome the special and strong voice of Albania in the region and on the international stage. This is what happened during the last two years when your country was in the United Nations Security Council.
Recently, you hosted a regional summit in Tirana in which you also invited President Zelenskyy to further strengthen support for Ukraine. This was an important moment for the unity of the region and support for President Zelenskyy and his people.
In all regional issues, the normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo is necessary, where your voice is valuable. Our exchanges today will allow us to continue our way and take stock of the works we have opened together to strengthen our precious partnership in all areas.
All these works have progressed and I am happy about the soon to be signed intergovernmental agreement, which will give a new impulse to our cooperation, especially in the key areas of water management, sustainable tourism and innovation. This last topic is at the center of your visit because this afternoon you will go to Station F for the launch of a France-Albania innovation council.
The French Development Agency will continue to support Albania in its economic reforms and energy transition and a loan of 120 million euros for environmental reform and a memorandum of cooperation with the Ministry of Environment will allow us to advance the processes we started 6 months ago with the entrepreneurs who accompanied me than.
In Tirana, culture and education are at the heart of our exchanges, whether in the Palace of Brigades and Ismail Kadare or even in the France cube, this space that you wanted to reserve for France in the Pyramid. I am also happy about the cultural, intellectual and human exchanges between the two countries. All these constitute a beautiful promise for our bilateral relations.
To close my speech, I want to say how much I admire the path your country has taken for friendship, with very deep European feelings. I would say that the French are like this too, we pay attention to friendships, our relationships are special and this is thanks to this joint work. Thank you, Mr. Prime Minister!
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Dear President, dear Emmanuel,
I am coming from a dense experience a few minutes ago, a ceremony that I had never imagined in my life, which was determined when I arrived in France in the early 90s. When I came from the airport, I stood in line for a long time to find a taxi, then I overcame the great difficulties of that time which were the norm for those who held an Albanian passport, because Europe was not easy for us at that time. Then I thought I had seen everything when I arrived one day accompanied to come to this palace to receive the Legion of Honor, but today I am really very proud, not of myself, but proud of Albania, of this friendship between Albania and France because it was the first time in our history of diplomatic relations that a representative of the Albanian state was received in this way and I thank you with all my heart because this really means a lot for Albania and Albanians, which, – as we did a little joke with the ambassador, were just a handful of people at that time in the 90s, but today they are much more, today there are many people who are in Albania to invest, to expand their enterprises and indeed this is a revolution.
I want to thank you especially for two things; firstly for the vision, the determination with which you encouraged, pushed these new waves of rapprochement between the Balkan countries and the European Union, putting on the table the need to accompany this integration process with a process of approximation beyond the bureaucratic paths of each country.
Today we are witnessing the results for Albania, for all the countries of the Balkans, and our growth plan, which was approved by the European Parliament, is something that goes in this direction, a strong Europe, a united Europe, a Europe that does not remain hostage to the old ways, to the old traditional methods of integration.
Today we are in a completely different situation, much more positive and on the other hand I want to thank you for the visit to Albania, because beyond the visit, beyond the understanding of the historical sense of the visit, beyond the very beautiful moments we spent together, there was a continuation, a continuation that touched us and surprised us a lot, because there are things that are happening, there are projects, there are things that are taking shape, it is the French excellence that is arriving in Albania and now we have a new horizon, a new horizon of joint work, where large investments have started for recognition and French financing for two photovoltaic infrastructures in the region.
It is also “Fouquet’s” that signed the first contract and that will open the doors of a French hospitality system on the coast of Albania, it is “École 42” that is opening its doors thanks to your support and thanks to the truly extraordinary personality of the gentleman.
Of course we want to do more, and I am sure we will do more. Today we were with “MEDEF” where there is more interest in many directions and we will welcome with open arms everything that comes from France because, as I try to tell my colleagues often, when France arrives it doesn’t simply come with money, but recognition, knowledge, and culture too. Having more of France in Albania means having more sources of growth, human resources, but also a way to understand the world and Europe.
To conclude, we are pro-French, I think that being pro-French means being the standard of being pro-European. You cannot be pro-European and not be pro-French and if you are pro-French, you support a Europe with culture, history and the Europe of the future, of a common life with some values that are at the heart of France and that France radiates around the world and ultimately the signing of this very high-level agreement between the two governments will open new doors for us. It will give us new opportunities to have even more of France in Albania. To be at the top, to show that France is not only a country that we look at with admiration, but a country which is part of our present and certainly will be part of our history, not only as a source of inspiration, but also as concrete tangible support for which I can only say thank you.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart on behalf of everyone, all Albanians who, to tell the truth, were somewhat skeptical about France a few years ago, but today they understand that Albania has another close friend and we Albanians, who are neither rich nor great, have a unique ability, that of loyalty. So if one day you need someone to be with you in a moment of abnormal difficulty, call an Albanian and he will come.
Thank you!
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Then, in the presence of Prime Minister Rama and President Macron, intergovernmental cooperation agreements were signed between the countries, namely:
– Intergovernmental Agreement between the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Albania and the Government of the Republic of France on the Contribution to the Implementation of Priority Projects in Albania. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation Blendi Gonxhe and the Delegate Minister for Europe, Jean-Noël.
– Loan Agreement, between the Republic of Albania and the French Development Agency, for the financing of the project “A Loan for Public Policies to support the Renewable Capacity and Green Development of Albania. The agreement was signed by the Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation Blendi Gonxhe and the Deputy Director General of the French Development Agency (AFD), Mrs. Marie-Hélène Loison.
