Prime Minister Edi Rama and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy co-chair the “Ukraine – Southeast Europe” Summit
Prime Minister Edi Rama and President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy co-directed the proceedings of the “Ukraine – Southeast Europe” Summit today. At the beginning of the session, Prime Minister Rama and then the President of Ukraine Zelenskyy addressed the Summit with their speeches:
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Prime Minister Edi Rama: Let me first tell you how grateful I am to all of you for your presence and how particularly humbled I feel to welcome to Tirana our honorable friend, His Excellency, President Volodymyr Zelenskyy Republic of Ukraine.
Dear President, very dear friend!
We are deeply honored that you made this trip to Tirana amid the extraordinary responsibilities of leadership, not only to your nation and people, but to our entire democratic world in resisting the war that has been so cruelly imposed on your country, which has simultaneously brutally challenged our democratic world.
This is a war that neither Ukraine nor our community of like-minded nations chose, a catastrophe conceived by the decision of one man, driven by the old dream of an imperial past.
Your presence here is a reminder that he has not succeeded, and that despite its military strength and toxic propaganda, neo-imperialist Russia has not succeeded in overthrowing the democratically elected government of Ukraine; has not succeeded in suppressing the will of the people of Ukraine, to live in a free, independent and democratic homeland.
He has not succeeded in suppressing the truth!
The contrast can’t be any stronger than that!
Vladimir Putin wanted to erase Ukraine from the map within a matter of days, but today Ukraine is more than ever anchored in Europe and I believe more confident about its European destiny.
I look around this table, I see familiar, friendly faces, after a long history of wars, conflicts and strained relationships. All of us here in the Western Balkans have tried for over a decade to come together and meet. To talk about our challenges, to plan our futures. Despite what we still can’t agree on, we aim to look forward instead of turning our heads at the brutal history of bloody divisions that have held us hostage for so many generations. The future that we in Albania see is a common future where we live in peace with our neighbors, where we work in cooperation with our partners and stay in friendship with the world.
Your presence here Mr. President calls us to accept something of extraordinary importance, that the same hope that has brought us together over the years, unites us now with the people of Ukraine. We have just marked the second anniversary of the Russia’s massive offensive against Ukraine and its capital Kiev and we are here to renew solidarity and support for Ukraine and its people and to you, Mr. President. We also want to renew our call for Russia to stop this war. We want to renew our commitment to peace, a just peace based on the Charter of the United Nations, international law and the resolutions of the General Assembly of the United Nations. A peace that respects Ukraine and its rights.
We gather here to reaffirm that we remain united in our response, we remain firmly with Ukraine in the face of the threat, a very real threat to the security of Europe and the global order. But we are also aware of our limitations. We ourselves do not have the capacity to provide the levels of financial and military support that Ukraine needs to properly defend itself and its people. So let me ask everyone here to join me in calling on the biggest and wealthiest members of our democratic community to recognize their role. The survival of Ukraine as a free, independent and democratic state and as a bastion of freedom in Europe as a whole depends on the financial and military support they will provide. This support should not be hostage to short-term domestic policies or democratic delays. Make no mistake! Ukraine is fighting not only for itself, but for everything we believe in, stand for and work for. There are some cynical opportunists out there who believe that helping Ukraine resist the invading army hinders the cause of peace, but I can tell them today that the way to end war is not to disarm the victim, but to stop the aggressor.
Rewarding an aggressor who annexes the territories of a sovereign country by disarming the victim of aggression does not bring peace, but paves the way for more war. Stopping Ukraine instead of stopping Vladimir Putin legitimizes further aggression and turns our world into one ruled by might, not rights.
Colleagues and friends, we know too well that our region and our continent are no strangers to wars and their devastating consequences.
Europe as we know it emerged after two terrible world wars just a century ago. In our region, after more than a quarter of a century, the deep wounds left by the violent disintegration of the former Yugoslavia, the last dictatorship of our Europe, still need to be healed, but we have also seen the construction of peace reflected above all in the vision, unparalleled wisdom and courage that led to the creation and development of the EU.
The vision that led to the creation of the EU guides the Western Balkans today in our journey towards the future, a future that we can only achieve in peace by staying united and resolving our differences in a peaceful, constructive way in the name of future generations. Unfortunately, all of this is now at risk because the rules-based international order is being challenged since power relations have turned into power struggles, because old appetites for dominance are opening up. All this sows fear and a sense of instability. We cannot and must not fall prey. The only choice we have is to collectively resist the forces that seek to undo what we have painstakingly built together. We cannot be naive and careless and leave our future hostage to unbridled desires. We in the Western Balkans must continue to stand together, mobilize all our capacities and resources, strengthen our ties, what unites us, our institutions, our organizations, what strengthens our democracies and do everything we can to not let aggression be rewarded. We cannot and must not let Russia win. Such an outcome would be untenable. The entire European project, including the existence of the EU, would be at risk. Our shared dream of a future of peace and prosperity would be pushed to the brink of a much, much darker future. A future that is too painful to imagine. This is why we must support the fight for freedom and dignity of Ukraine. This war is also for our dignity and we must continue to advocate for peace, a just peace for Ukraine and its people.
Albania has done what it can, and will continue to do so. The joint statement that we signed today in support of the Euro-Atlantic integration of Ukraine will further strengthen our relations and determination to continue standing by Ukraine.
Finally, for many of those small nations like us who do not want to become fodder for Russia’s imperialist appetite, we need absolute clarity about Ukraine, we need unwavering solidarity with Ukraine and we need a common strategy to support Ukraine.
Glory to Ukraine! The floor is for you, Mr. President
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President Volodymyr Zelenskyy: Thank you, dear Prime Minister Rama!
Dear colleagues!
Dear friends!
First of all, I would like to thank Prime Minister Rama for everything he has done. Thank you for your personal support and for Albania’s military, humanitarian and political support for Ukraine.
Thank you very much for organizing this Summit and welcoming us here. It is the second time that we meet in such a format. First we met in Athens and now here in a welcoming Tirana.
Prime Minister Edi, I greatly appreciate your hospitality and this opportunity you are giving us to discuss together how we can further strengthen our countries, our regions and the whole Europe, because everyone understands that today, the journey that Europe will follow for generations to come is being determined, and we all want Europe to be that space in which every nation, every country, determines its own destiny, given that we know how in the past there have been people who have tried to determine the fate of other nations. This has happened in the Balkans, this has happened in Eastern Europe and in all other parts of Europe. Now Putin wants to do just that. All his enmity, everything he does and everything he wants by forcing other nations to do as he says, is an attempt to let the old dictates decide what the nations should do; what they agree or disagree with. That is why it is very important for all our nations, for our free states, for Putin and his regime to lose, because his failures are our security. Dear colleagues, our vision for Europe and life in all its regions is based on the principle of dignity, the same dignity for every country. There should not be a Europe with different dignities in it, in which, for example, someone deserves more security or peace, while someone else suffers for peace. Or when someone deserves, for example, integration in unions or alliances, but is left behind instead.
We believe that respect for every nation and the equal right of nations to have security as well as the independent choice of their destiny should be universal principles and we should make this clear.
Firstly, we believe that every state, every nation in Europe that maintains the principles of the European and Euro-Atlantic communities and wants to become a member of these communities, deserves full integration.
Ukraine supports your countries in your journey to European integration and is very grateful for the support you are giving us for our integration. The EU and NATO have offered Europe the longest and strongest era of security, peace and economic development, and we all deserve to be part of the European community and the Euro-Atlantic community equally.
Secondly, I am grateful to all the leaders and nations who have supported our peace formula and joined the global effort to implement it. The obvious advantage of the peace formula is that it is comprehensive, which means that every aspect of the Russian war can be solved by the sections that are defined in this formula, and also that the nature of this formula is inclusive, which means, every leader, every state can find itself in this peace process. We want international law and global stability to be based on truly multilateral and transparent processes, that is, on the equality of nations, just as everyone deserves and wants peace, so everyone can contribute to the restoration of peace. Thus, I invite you all to participate in the First Global Peace Summit at the level of leaders to be held in Switzerland.
Thirdly, protection. Throughout this war, a war on all fronts, we have shown, we have proven that it is possible to face and win over an enemy that seems to be one of the most powerful in the world. So, any nation can succeed in defense and win when different nations cooperate and their people are motivated for resistance, and we propose to weave together these kinds of efforts and strengthen them. We are proud that we have about 500 companies in the field of defense, operating in Ukraine in various fields, and each of them adds to our strength, but this is not enough for us to win over Putin. We also see problems in the supply in terms of ammunition which affect the situation on the battlefield and therefore we are interested in the co-production of ammunition with you and our partners. Our team, our government will present all the details and we propose to organize a special defense industry forum between Ukraine and the Balkans either in Kiev or in one of your capitals.
I am very grateful to you for the joint work that has been done with your countries in terms of roads, ports, railways, but also at sea and together with the defense package and macro-financial political support, this interaction between us, between neighbors, between neighboring regions, between all of us has already turned into a factor which, together with the resistance of our people in Ukraine, does not allow Putin to win, and I also want to emphasize our joint work in the Black Sea, but also in the region of the Danube.
Regarding the food safety it helps the whole world. We must continue to develop our good neighborly relations in the field of logistics, infrastructure, trade, but also in the relations we have with each other on energy, politics, in the resistance we have to tackle Russian efforts to destabilize our political systems.
Everything that makes us good partners makes Putin weaker, weakens him, which is why he invests so much in divisions and crises. In divide and rule, he knows very well what is good for his interests, but we must look at what is good for our interests, because only in this way will we protect each other.
Thank you for your attention, thank you for the invitation. Dear Prime Minister!
Glory to Ukraine!
