Prime Minister Edi Rama hosted Thursday the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier, who is paying an official visit to Albania.
At the bilateral meeting and at the extended meeting of the respective delegations at the Maps Hall at the government offices, Prime Minister Edi Rama and the visiting President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier praised the excellent Albanian-German ties, the close cooperation at a political and diplomatic level and the successful cooperation in the fight against organist organized crime and corruption, defence and education cooperation etc.
Prime Minister Rama praised Germany’s role as a friendly and partner country, a steadfast supporter of Albania’s European Union integration process.
“Thank you again Mr. President! It is really an honour and a big pleasure to have you here together with the delegation accompanying you during your visit to Albania. We are profoundly grateful to Germany and everything the successive German governments have done for this relation, which is at its best. Of course, we wish to do a lot more, but I must say that Germany’s support on all fronts so far has been absolutely essential to us. We are deeply grateful for this. We find it great that a former Foreign Minister now serves as the President of Germany, because it is very helpful that by knowing the ground, knowing the people, knowing the dynamics for all the countries, especially in this region, where, as you already know, the Berlin Process, which is going on after being somehow renewed and reorganized and where thanks to this Process very good things have happened for the region,” the Premier said during the meeting.
On his part, the German President commended Albania for its progress on the path towards integration into the European Union and affirmed that Germany will always support these steps.
“Dear Edi! First of all, I would like to congratulate you for embarking on an intensive year in office as the Prime Minister. I don’t exactly remember how many times we have been sitting and discussing Albania’s path towards Europe, but I would really like to congratulate you for overcoming an important milestone by commencing the accession negotiations. And this is something, I think you have worked hard through the support of many members of your parliament and the majority of the political elite here in Albania and I hope this would encourage you to take further required steps on the path towards Europe. We talked about reforms, we talked about justice system reform, the fight against corruption. So therefore, I think progress is necessary and progress is possible. I am fully convinced, although I once used to be sceptical, that Europe must not only demonstrate unity and determination, but also be open to the necessary enlargement towards the Western Balkans. Therefore, I am quite optimistic. I know that there is some kind of obstacle due to the wait time until EU membership is formalized. So it is my impression that the most sceptical governments too are now convinced that we need to speed up the process and that’s a good thing,” the President of the Federal Republic of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier said.
