The Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Albania and the United States today through the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy and ExxonMobil and Excelerate Energy on development of liquefied natural gas from the US to Albania. The project also entails transformation of the Vlora thermal power facility into a liquid gas-fired thermal power plant, construction of a new gasification and LNG distribution terminal, turning Vlora into a regional hub for the liquefied gas.

Prime Minister Edi Rama hailed the agreement, saying:

Hello everybody from Tirana, the capital of the most pro-American land in the world!

It is fascinating to be here like in a friendly meeting between David and Goliath, because facing a company with its revenues 20 times higher than your GDP is quite an impression.

But, thanks God we are here to be allies and not to fight each other.

Therefore, it is great to have a partner like you.

By the way, I strongly believe that on this path towards the future, towards being able to turn Albanian into an energy exporter within 2030 and we have been lucky to have the very best partners, equipped with best experience and expertise to deliver and carry out a project of such size and also of such a complexity.

Developing a project with this industry leader like Exxon and collaboration with the United States and the US Department of Energy to make such a project happen is definitely a very important step forward for Albania and Albanian people. This is the second major project signed over the past few months between our government and the US partners after the agreement on the construction of the Skavica hydropower plant, the largest hydropower plant in 50 years.

I have to underline that none of the projects would have been possible if it was not for someone here in this gathering, who of course is a woman, because strong women only can make such things happen, and she is the US Ambassador, because it was her who succeeded in pressing this relationship a s step further forward, rendering an extraordinary dimension to the economic cooperation and I would like to thank her a lot.

I would also like to thank everyone else, who has contributed to this project, which I believe will give an incredible boost to the morale of the Albanian citizens and the economy itself, because by transforming Vlora into a hub for the natural liquefied gas and by succeeding in reviving one of the investments of the past, which has frankly been a failure, is very important. $130 million was spent very badly. I know such an amount is may be merely some cents, but it is a huge amount of money for Albania. The conversion of Vlora plant from oil to gas-fired thermal plant and making the plant operational is an incredible step forward. And as the expression goes – and I don’t know if you also have such a saying in the US – but there is an Albanian saying about “killing two birds in one stone-throw.”

As a matter of fact, these are two extremely important projects included in a single agreement.

The golden age for gas that has been foreseen by International Energy Agency is fully emerging for Albania today. It can be particularly golden for this part of the world, namely the Balkan region, where I strongly believe that when full history of the 21st century is written, the historians will certainly reflect on the origin of this golden age in the region. It could probably not be a very big deal for a big company like Exxon Mobile, yet it would be important for the reputation and the name of Exxon Mobile to be inseparable from the history of the golden age in this part of the world, showing not only the power of the vision, the power of Exxon Mobile’s expertise, but also the very important power of the Albanian-American relations.

Thank you very much to everyone!

I am very unhappy to not be able to be in Houston, Texas, but I hope this is just the beginning and may be more other things will emerge, because I know quite well that Albania has a weakness for those who don’t know it. Albania is not somewhere to go for those who don’t know it, yet those who come here can in no way part from it. Therefore, I am sure, my friend, you have already fallen into the trap and I am convinced that the future will provide many more opportunities, many more reasons to stay longer in Albania 

Thank you very much to everyone!