* Joint press conference of Prime Minister Rama and the Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte:

Honourable Prime Minister!

Dear Giuseppe!

Today marked an important milestone as the friendly Prime Minister of Italy arrived in Tirana, despite a busy work schedule in Rome and a scheduled cabinet meeting later on the day, to demonstrate a traditional friendship and, at the same time, readiness to deepen the excellent cooperation between the two countries, where there is undoubtedly huge potential to do a lot more.

Prime Minister Conte’s visit to Tirana today takes place in the framework of an extremely important week for the European Union and Albania on the eve of a EU meeting that is set to discuss the decision on opening the EU accession negotiations with Albania and North Macedonia.

And in this respect, I would like to thank the Prime Minister and the Italian government, which, in line with and coherence of Italian foreign policy, but also in a meaningful expression of goodwill, has not faltered for a moment in its support for European integration perspective of Albania, North Macedonia and the whole region.

I believe – and I conveyed this to the Prime Minister – that despite the fact that Albania and North Macedonia have done their homework and deserve opening the EU membership negotiations unconditionally, despite the fact that the process implies a lot more than merely what we or North Macedonia have already done, it is of strategic importance that conclusion of this process is seen not only through the eyes of national interest, but also through the eyes of the common interest, because it is both in our interest and in the interest of the EU for this process to be taken forward.

We have joined this process not because we have been asked by Brussels, Berlin, Paris or whole EU to do so, but because this what the future requires and because through this process we can build a European Albania with rule of law, functioning institutions and developed democracy.

And lastly, with the Prime Minister we also touched upon the aspect of bilateral relations. The relations between Albania and Italy are very good, but further deepening them, especially in terms of economic cooperation, remains a challenge. We also emphasized the fact that the justice reform and the integration process represent a firm pillar of support to boost economic cooperation.

I would like to thank again the Premier and I believe it would be reasonable to provide the Prime Minister sufficient time to communicate with you and our public opinion about this important moment in the bilateral relations and in our relations with the European Union.

Thank you very much!

Dear friend, the floor is yours!

Italian PM Giuseppe Conte: I am really happy to be here today. On my first visit to Albania, I confirmed to Prime Minister Rama that Italy supports opening of the EU accession negotiations and I personally will voice this support on Thursday and Friday and embrace this position strongly and confidently. I am confident that opening the accession negotiations with Albania is the best tool to ensure Albania’s development in interest of not only Italy and Albania, but also the whole Europe in every aspect, including economic, politic and security aspect. The Western Balkans’ accession to the European Union is an essential objective in terms of the region’s integration process.

Just like my friend Edi said, the fact that I am here today on such a busy day for our institutions, the Italian government and politics is a concrete step. So I am here because this opportunity is being discussed at the EU Headquarters right now. Albania has reached a key stage and is asked to deliver on reform, and we are talking about costly reforms, but which are very courageous and require broad support, and not political support alone. Albanian people has voiced support for the EU accession and this support is driving the institutions to further take this process forward. But it is important that we do not disappoint the institutions and this aspiration to join the EU, but a clear EU perspective is offered instead. If this process keeps being delayed year after year, then this desire would fade away. You can count on Italy’s desire and commitment and this of course represents a stronger commitment from the Albanian government and leadership just like PM Rama confirmed that he and his government are committed to continue on path of major reforms and the justice system reform in particular, which mostly concern several challenges, including functioning of the main justice bodies, as well as the fight against crime and corruption.

Part of our conversation also focused on deeper and stronger cooperation in the fight against crime and illicit trafficking. Our attention is mainly focused on Albania’s ability to resolve its political crisis on its own and this would represent another signal of the political and institutional maturity and, including here the responsibility that the government and Prime Minister Rama are demonstrating and will continue to demonstrate, it is both in interest of the majority and the opposition to resolve this crisis through their own sources, so they solve the crisis themselves. It is important that the governing majority proposes to the opposition a platform aimed at resolving and engaging at a more constructive dialogue and I will be underlying the need for unconditional dialogue at my meetings later on the day.

Together with the Prime Minister we had the opportunity to discuss our readiness to further strengthen excellent economic relations, even though Italy is in a privileged position vis-à-vis Albania. We are really pleased about the position our country occupies because Italy is Albania’s top trade partner. The economic exchange in 2018 was valued around 2.5 billion euros and 1.2 billion euros in the first 6 months of this year. These figures are extremely important and are highly valuable also in the framework of the presence of many Italian enterprises in Albania. However, there is still much room to do more and better and our enterprises are seeking to further strengthen their position in Albania and that’s why they want to further improve the business climate.

I am convinced Albania has yet to fully tap its economic potential. At the moment, Albania only focuses on the advantages or advantages of cheap labour costs, or even the tax rates that are lower than the European Union’s average, however the country needs to exploit its natural resources and human capital and Albania’s strategic position, which can turn Albania into a key development point for the entire Balkan region. The fact that Albania itself will soon join the infrastructure network and the energy network and the country, actually both Albania and Italy should take advantage of this opportunity. But, on the other hand, all these elements represent a great responsibility for Albania that should live up to a new world and its strict rules. Albania should be ready to meet the challenge of taking full advantage of these opportunities. It is essential, as I already noted, that an improve business climate is guaranteed, as well as increasingly effective public administration and state institutions in order to tap on development potential, or build solid economic institutions that can challenge other institutions failing to fully respect the law.

However, we are happy and pleased about the level of cooperation between our two countries, including the cultural aspect, because you are no longer a kind of a secondary supplement when it comes to cooperation between our two countries.

A large number of Albanian students attend Italian universities and in the meantime a considerable number of Italian language teachers and lecturers, who work and exert their activity in Albania, as well as the bilingual sections in Tirana, Shkoder and Korça. To Albanian students, Italy is a point of reference for their academic and cultural education. I would like to highlight a fact from my own experience, because Albanian students are best integrated also at the university level as I have had the chance to know several Albanian students, who were some of the best performing and most responsible students. So, Albanians are not merely the largest student community in Italy, but they are also some of the best performing students. I confirmed this to the Prime Minister and the desire to further strengthen cooperation in the scientific research sector, as well as further boost this cooperation in order to provide for the Albanian students, who have chosen to graduate from the Italian universities, the opportunity to return back home and further perfect their knowledge and skills.

Mr. Prime Minister, you are already on a visit here, despite your extremely busy agenda of meetings and commitments. Therefore, I would like to ask you about the today’s cabinet meeting, whether the government will decide to hike the workers’ wages. This is an obligation towards those watching and listening to us. But you are here for Albania’s EU integration process. I believe you will actively engage at the upcoming European Council meeting about this issue. How do you plan to support Albania in this process?

A question to PM Rama; Given the BREXIT process, someone is going to leave Europe and someone else wishes to join. What do you expect from this Europe?

PM Giuseppe Conte: In respect for country hosting us today, I would answer to the question about the European integration. As I said, the meeting of the European Council is set to take place on Thursday and Friday and the Council will treat this argument. We will do whatever possible to achieve this result, i.e. to achieve formal start of accession negotiations. We think this is the most appropriate way to offer Albanian people a concrete perspective. We are conscious – we stated it openly earlier – it is a very engaging, very responsible journey. It is a great challenge for the Albanian people and for the institutions and the government of the country, but it is clear that it is necessary to take some concrete measures to complete this journey so that the process can be unblocked. Then there are many intermediate stages, which will require a series of reforms to complete and many others launched.

In this regard, Italy thinks that Albania and North Macedonia fully deserve opening the EU accession negotiations. We will be fighting for this. Despite the latest news reports suggesting that it would be very difficult to include all EU member states in this perspective, but we won’t give up and will continue to work about this. I will personally work with other European leaders on this aspect.

As for the other question about the economic manoeuvres. You are asking me whether the Italian workers will receive higher wages. Do you really want to know the wage they will be receiving? I can’t say it, but the government is making great efforts. We are trying to make sure that all workers recover what we call the purchasing power. The purchasing power has not increased over all these years and therefore one of the government’s top priorities, on which we all agree and wish it becomes a reality, is to cut funding allocated during the previous years, but the revenues we currently possess are not that high and that’s why we need to cut some spending in favour of workers. There agreements that have been proposed to other categories too. This is the case to send a signal to workers that we will do whatever possible to make this signal clearer.

You also asked me whether I was pleased with the anti-evasion plan. Look, I have made a pact with the Italians. I am not really pleased with the actions we are taking, not because these actions are not significant. We are doing hard work. Let me not demonstrate any modesty. We are doing significant work the Ministry of Finance. Whether I am pleased or not doesn’t depend on the actions we will take, but the fact how we will manage to combat informal economy. I will only be pleased when we succeed in increasing budget revenue significantly by fighting informal economy. This fight should be efficient. That’s why I will see how these actions will perform. Italians should know we are going to intensify such measures as long as I would be in the government. I can’t accept that many honest Italians pay instead of the others. This is the gravest social injustice and I won’t be happy at all until results are achieved.

PM Edi Rama: I don’t know whether the comparison is appropriate, but to answer your question I would say that someone wishing to end a marriage cannot be seen as example to discourage someone else who is in love and wishes to get married. So, we are in a love story with Europe and if the Brits wish to deserve, despite due respect for them, this is not an example for us to give up, because Europe to us is a strong relation of a very early origin and it is part of our history and our dream.

I would also like to point out that many wonder how comes that Albanians are so attracted to Europe? Because Europe to us is exactly what it actually is to its founding fathers, a space of peace and security. We come from a not so distant era, when Albania used to be Europe’s North Korea. We have also experienced first-hand the war and have seen it through our own eyes. Almost half a million Albanians were forced to leave their homes in Kosovo to arrive here in this very city, when we were at a mature and adult age. And this is the case in the entire Western Balkans. And history is not merely a black and white movie, just like the English who see “black and white Churchill.

I would also like to state this is the only journey, not for the sake of Europe, but to transform Albania into a European country and a European democracy where the rule of law prevails. For this reason, I deem it fit to thank the Prime Minister again, thank Italy and all other countries that are giving us full reason at this moment, because we are asking neither for a gift, nor for pittance, but we are merely asking for what belongs to us. We have done what we were meant to do and we have been asked to do, not to become EU members, but open the accession negotiations. We will then show that we will be ready to become members and that we will be ready to be monitored and supervised at every step we take.

And in this recurring theme of the same story of constant requirements to do this and that and then see each other next year again just to add some other conditions, because there will always be “this” or “that” about we can be asked for any time before creating an alibi. However, it is clear that at these moment, many of the European Union members, if they were to be in our position, would have faced same problem. However, I told my fellow citizens today that the October 18 is an important date, but on October 19 the sun will rise again, life is beautiful and if we happen not to receive a clear “YES” on Oct 18 – we will take into consideration it – we will keep working because, after all, this journey is for us and we are not doing it just for the sake of Europe.

Question to PM Conte; Italy is actually one leading and largest trade partner of Albania and a donor country. However, there is a notable lack of investment in strategic areas, like telecommunication, energy and tourism. Why do you think Italian strategic investors are not investing in these sectors of Albania and will there be changes in the future?

Question to PM Rama; You commenced your term in office back in 2013 with the aim of boosting Italian investments and you have also paid several visits to invite Italian investors, yet Italian investments in Albania have not registered a considerable increase. Do you think our public administration is too bureaucratic to deal with foreign investment and what changes we might expect in this aspect? Thank you!

PM Giuseppe Conte: There is a number of bilateral initiatives to further boost relations and we had the chance to talk about this issue with Prime Minister Rama. The today’s visit is a short one, but a longer one will take place in the near future to show commitment to strengthening bilateral economic relations. Of course, Italian investors wish to invest more in Albania, but the process we talked about comes with a set of guarantees in the fight against illegal trafficking and makes this climate more attractive to the business community and investors and helps in drafting other investment strategies. But our objective is to exceed the trade volume valued at 2.5 billion euros in 2018. We have the potential to achieve increasingly ambitious objectives of mutual interest. So, we need to work hard about this, because it is in interest of both sides. We can do a lot more to reorganize various initiatives, which may include a number of investors, whereas Albania and the Albanian government in return can do a lot more to provide the necessary conditions for a certain investment, or make sure such investments become productive in terms of mutual interest of both countries.

PM Edi Rama: First of all, I do of course think that Italy and Albania have tremendous potential for stronger economic cooperation and more Italian investment. On the other hand, if you were to look at the official data, compared to several years ago, they show a growth in investment and an exponential increase in the number of Italian tourists to Albania. Meanwhile, a number of Italian companies have expressed interest in investment in Albanian tourism, yet they are projects that take time to mature. You mentioned energy sector. I can confidently affirm that an agreement with an Italian leading company in oil and gas exploration will be announce publicly soon. It is a process that takes its time to collect whole set of data and then move on with the required procedures. In the meantime, I believe, as Prime Minister Conte said, that a better harmonization of forces and shared work and more focused on several directions, will certainly yield more significant results. It was exactly for this reason that I was pleased to accept the Prime Minister’s invitation to visit Rome soon, where I hope we will have more time available to go over details of all aspects of the cooperation and address common objectives of mutual interest.

PM Giuseppe Conte:  I can confirm he is welcome to Italy as soon as possible and he will be on an official visit to Italy soon.

*Simultaneous interpretation