A funding agreement was signed between the government of Albania and the French Development Agency on Tuesday to support massive investment designed to rebuild the entire water supply network in the city of Durrës following the 2019 earthquake, finalizing a long transformation process of the water supply network in the coastal municipality.

The EUR 60 million framework loan agreement and the EUR one million grant agreement for the technical assistance regarding a French Development Agency project was signed by an Albanian government representative and France’s Minister of State for Europe, Laurence Bonne, during a ceremony also attended by the Prime Minister Edi Rama.

***

In remarks after the signing ceremony, PM Rama said: “I would like to express my satisfaction that such an important agreement is signed. It is an accord about which we had agreed from the very beginning so that thanks also to direct involvement of the French Development Agency we can intervene through a massive investment in the entire area of Durres, completing this way a long and complicated transformation process of the whole Durres water supply network.

I avail myself of this opportunity to recall the fact that Emmanuel Macron was among the first European leaders to show interest in the situation in the wake of the November 26 tragedy. Macron was among the European colleagues, who in those hard days constantly called to learn about progress of search and rescue operations and instantly deployed a French search and rescue team that came to Albania and conducted some important operations saving people’s lives in extremely dangerous conditions for them. The President was then personally committed by directly involving France in the whole group of countries that pledged financial support, sending the Foreign Minister to the specially called conference in Brussels to raise funds for the post-earthquake recovery and reconstruction programme. And here we are today finalizing a long, but also significant process for all of those who have been questioning and probably still keep questioning the allocation of the pledges at the Brussels conference, as a part of the promised funding is already being implemented under the EU 4 schools programme to reconstruct schools and other educational facilities and the EU for culture programme to reconstruct the cultural heritage sites. A part of the funding is still under process, just like it is the case with today’s fund or the fund allocated by Italy, again for Durres district, but the latter is earmarked to support the fishing sector, as well as the entire logistics and civil emergency crews.

All I have to say now is to thank France’s Minister for Europe, who has come in person to sign the agreement and only for this indeed, but also to voice in person France’s continued readiness and support for Albania, support for the transformations on the European integration process, as well as support for the transformations in our region.

The French Agency has started operating in this region very recently. If we are to consider the time Agency’s activity since then we would notice a considerable increase in funds for the Balkans and this is, for the sake of truth, an expression of the President’s and the French government’s direct interest in the Balkan region like never before and I am very grateful for this. We are also very happy, because the French Development Agency is not a bank that allocates funds, but it is primarily a knowhow bank that brings knowhow, experience, expertise and fresh opportunities that need to be improved and increase in their quality in all aspects in our region and in Albania. Thank you!

French Minister of State for Europe, Laurence Bonne:  First of all I would like to thank Mr. Prime Minister Edi Rama for your hospitality. I think this is the third time we meet each other and every time I have learned something from which not only the EU member states, but all European countries in our continent and the countries that comprise the European political community can benefit.

I was very happy to meet you for the first time at the launch of the first intergovernmental conference between the EU and Albania and I am also very happy to meet you here today. One should never underestimate the fact that the meeting in Brussels reflects a great work done by Albania, to make the prospect of EU integration credible. I would like to hail the judicial reform Albania has delivered recently and which I think is unparalleled, there is no other similar reform in the EU.

When we met, you focused on the EU integration perspective. Such a perspective requires profound transformation, especially in economy, environment and social transformations. However, I am convinced that Albania’s geographical position provides it an important advantage also in the field of functioning of the democratic institutions.

We talked about the rule of law, good governance and the public administration. I would like to reaffirm that you will enjoy France’s steadfast support to help you as much as you need and as much as possible. I certainly believe that the new methodology for accession negotiations is a very interactive process that will allow you to exchange during the process which is now much less a two-sided one.

As we discussed a bit earlier, it is clear that the Russian aggression on Ukraine alters the paradigm of our continent’s geopolitical setting. I would also like to congratulate and commend Albania for its readiness to join the EU sanctions, as well as Albania’s role in the UN Security Council, because everything you have done aligns Albania and its dynamics as a peace stakeholder, not only in the region, but in a much wider region and throughout the EU.

We are aware that Russia is capable of destabilizing Europe, using all its leverage in Southeast Europe, and that’s why we need to strengthen our cohesion and cooperation together. This is the spirit of the European community, but it is not only this spirit, this spirit because the idea is also to strengthen the European national identity and to have a common history. This is the spirit of the European community, but it is not only this spirit, because the idea is also to strengthen the European national identity and the common history.

So we talked about all these at today’s meeting and I am confident that Albania can also help France and other EU member states build this European political community, this family in the continent. We also discussed ways how Albania can contribute to the peace and stability in the region. We also briefly touched upon the bilateral relations that are part of the French strategy for Southeast Europe. I hope we will have excellent political ties, as the Prime Minister said, and we can do more in the economy. There are many fields and topics that are present in this region. It is about the Karavasta photovoltaic plant that marks a positive development and if Albania now ranks on top of the energy transition, this is thanks to these technologies. You Mr. Prime Minister were kind enough to highlight the involvement of the French Development Agency in contributing to social economic development and gender equality in the country. The French Development Agency has been present through loans in Albania for three years now, and I hope that this will continue. Everything we do together creates a bond of trust, a bond of cooperation, and I believe that it will be strengthened by the agreements we just signed, as you said, to support reconstruction of the water and sewerage network through this loan and grant agreement in the city of Durrës. This was an illustration of France’s friendship and support for Albania and it was best expressed in the wake of the devastating earthquake in 2019.

One last area I would like to focus on, namely cooperation in the field of culture, archaeology. You have a fantastic country for this and for francophone, because we can engage in strong and rich discussions in French, and I want to remind you of your commitment to the plurality and media independence and to take it beyond your borders as on 11 November, on behalf of Albania, you signed in Paris the country’s participation in the international partnership for formation and democracy, an initiative launched by Reporters without Borders, an NGO that draws up a “road map” on the freedom of the press in all countries and which is important for us because the media maybe face a bad situation sometimes because of all social media networks.

I would be very happy to see Albania integrating into the EU and moving towards this integration as such an important member of the European political community.

Thank you for the hospitality, thank you for your suggestions and I’m really happy for the current bilateral ties.