Prime Minister Edi Rama addressed today the regional summit “100 business leaders from southeast Europe – Interconnection”, and extended an invitation for increased economic cooperation among countries.

“There is a gap between what people thought and expected when we first met in Berlin and started the Berlin Process with Chancellor Merkel’s blessing, but a significant progress has been made at the same time. One of the most important points to underline is precisely this action plan approved which contains 120 measures that each country should implement, to completely change the way we communicate with one another, in terms of the movement of people and goods. Because, while we are all trying to integrate into the EU, there are many untapped important potentials in our region due to so many barriers, so many non-tariff barriers and also because of the time lost in the past”, the Prime Minister said.

“Eliminating barriers, – the Prime Minister added, – will create more room for increased trade exchanges among countries in the region.

“It is stunning to think that based on calculations of the World Bank, there are 3800 years of waiting in the borders of our countries. People waiting and goods waiting. So 3800 years are a luxury in waiting that only the Balkans can afford, but not the Balkans of tomorrow; the Balkans of the past. So, in this gap between the past and the future we have to fight hard to not let anymore people wait and goods wait, and open this huge space for cooperation and for trade.”

“In order to achieve success, the Prime Minister said, everyone should do everything possible to strengthen and foster cooperation.”

“Albania is yet to be still a fully discovered destination. We are facing a phase of growing interest in Albania. There are more and more people coming from Macedonia, a lot from Bosnia, more and more from Serbia, let alone Albanians from Kosovo who are in big numbers in our coast, and this is once again an example of how much our fates are interconnected and how much we can do together. We need to get a new understanding on how to deal with our own potential and how to make sure that everyone understands and works to make each country’s potentials bigger through the regional potential which is immense because individually our countries are small markets, but together it’s a big market and it is time to move very convincingly in this direction and not to get in the trap of controversies about this Plan.”