Prime Minister Edi Rama, on a visit to Kyiv, was received by the Prime Minister of Ukraine Denys Shmyhal.

During the meeting, PM Rama said: “First of all let me say again that we feel really honoured to be invited here and for being granted the opportunity to provide though a very small contribution our support for you by doing whatever we could since day one of this horrible war until today when we are here to voice our strong support for Ukraine’s bid to be awarded the EU candidate country status.

We are here as the heads of governments of three NATO member countries from the Western Balkans and we are very pleased to see five Western Balkan countries that are UN members to stand with you and the democratic world in the three voting sessions. Of course, this also applies to Serbia, which has very special relations with Russia, as well as to Albania, which has had relations at the lowest possible level despite the historical relations, but we did not have any bad feelings until the war started, to continue with Montenegro, which is firmly aligned with the Euro-Atlantic Alliance all the way to Bosnia and Herzegovina.

However, I would like to remind you of the fact that there is another country in the Western Balkans, there is a sixth country that has yet to become a UN member, Kosovo, which from day one has been firmly aligned with Ukraine, until in the end.

Ukraine has yet to recognize Kosovo and I already stated at the press conference and I publicly called on Ukraine to reconsiders Kosovo’s recognition, as Kosovo people really deserve it and they have really demonstrated something extraordinary, as they didn’t remain hostage to the past and recall how Ukraine behaved back then when Kosovo was under aggression, but they stood for what they believed for Ukraine. It would be best that Ukraine reconsiders the decision and conveys the right message on behalf of the new European political community we want to build together.

Honourable Prime Minister, thank you for sharing the reality of what we saw for ourselves in the bombed cities. It was very heartbreaking and very painful to be there and see how these once vibrant cities of Ukraine have been reduced to rubble and turned into ghost cities. We would be very happy to join your efforts to rebuild these cities and while Albania has donated 1 million euros, and this amount won’t certainly solve your problems, but for our budget it was something that shows respect for you. We want to unite with all the other Balkan countries and thus build a bloc, with each country constructing a residential building, that will stand there to remember that Ukraine once had friends and also to show solidarity through deeds and not only through statements.