Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks at presentation of the Tirana Pyramid Revitalization Project:

Thank you very much!

I will try to make it short and speak in a more concise manner, but anyone who knows me knows that this won’t be an easy exercise.

First of all, I would like to sincerely appreciate those who pushed the project forward, since it is about a project I have longed dreamed of being able to develop since I served as Tirana Mayor. The project certainly represents an extraordinary potential right at the heart, which, unfortunately, for many years now has failed to develop from an incredible potential into an extraordinary magnetic force. I believe this project is like a magnetic force as it will become a reference point for the most important part of society like children and youths, who unfortunately less well cared for.

I believe the project has succeeded in addressing a key point of the challenge regarding the building’s refurbishment and its function.

This is a crucial moment, because one could see models that work spectacularly in a country or in another and may be lured into importing such models, but the problem is not merely to turn the Winy Mass project into a reality, but give it full meaning to serve people, and not just turn the pyramid into an iconic building.

Strenuous efforts have been made for years. Together with Erjon (Tirana Mayor) we have been discussing a lot since he took over as Mayor in order to wake Tirana up. And the question always was: What can keep the building alive and make it very beautiful, but at the end of the day the purpose of the building is not just the beauty, but its usefulness. It is true that in the end we came to the conclusion that this building should become available to those who need much more than everyone else, children and the youth. But again, we stilled faced a dilemma as Erjoni was looking for a way to turn the building into a centre for the “trendy” part of Tirana youth, a community still a minority within Tirana’s large youth community, which could to risk turning it into a kind of youth centre that came with time constraint.

Meanwhile I persevered “children, children.” I believe Zaho has the merit for this. I remember when Erjon called me in a state of great emotion and exaltation – as he always does indeed even when calling for a manhole or a transformation project with great impact for generations to come – and he said: “We found it! This issue is settled.”

But I have learned to wait whenever there is such a breakthrough, because it should be really a breakthrough and not just a wishful thinking never dying.

It is something extraordinary and I want to humbly compliment the initiators of this centre, because I believe it is a model that brings two seemingly distant things together, children and the technology. It brings the two together, providing children the opportunity, not just to learn to use technology, because children can learn it without our help – and I have started to see it for myself as time is nearing when I need to strengthen the computer’s passwords to protect from my son Zaho – but to give them the opportunity to orient themselves to the use of technology, because technology has its two sides.

I am extremely pleased to see an amalgam forces and energies coming together, which, I am convinced, will guarantee this project. And I’m very pleased seeing another great step being made on the very difficult path between the beauty and ugliness in Tirana. Because it concerns me a lot and it’s maybe the moment I face the biggest problem, when I come across people who say: “What the square is needed for while we struggle to provide bread? What we need trees and benches? We need bread, water, oil.”

Of course you do.

But one thing I know for sure. There are beautiful but not rich countries around the world, but there is no ugly country that is not poor too. There is a significant relation between the beauty and well-being and this is something proven in history, but here in Albania we also have to explain again and again things as if the world has just been created.

It is incredible that this place which today looks like a melancholic destination of ugliness will transform into a dynamic destination of beauty, because the potential is to be found right here and therefore the challenge to use the past as a horse to be ridden towards the future has been tackled. In this respect, I believe this project will be a very important added value to Tirana and the community.

While entering here, I was actually thinking this building is today a place that can best illustrate what Albanians have done with their own state for over 20 years. It’s exactly this place. An inherited building which has undergone few sporadic repair and maintenance works, just like the governance and the state-building process have been in Albania over these years.

Actually, this building is the picture of the state we inherited in terms of how parts are harmonized and how the function is performed. Once the building complete under this project with the AADF’s invaluable help – which Erjoni said represents 1/3 of the whole project, but without the AADF assistance the other 2/3 would have remained just a wishful thinking – we will we have a place to see how the state should exactly be. The whole miracle of this story is that it will be the venue where children will come and start their journey from here.

To conclude, I would like to extend my best wishes for the progress of this project. It is of course part of my duty, besides Michael [Granoff], to provide the right funding together with the AADF, because experience has shown that for the same amount of money AADF has used in Albania for joint projects, compared to other projects that have taken place over so many years, it seems to be a 1 to 100 investment ratio in terms of the result and added value. So the AADF is an important force in the transformation of this country, which can pay little and it looks like it is spending a lot, because quality, impact, the investment return value, which is truly unmatchable compared to what we are used to see in investments of same value when it comes to impact and quality.

In this respect, the collaboration between the government and the AADF is an excellent human and professional experience. I am not saying these words to play the role of a diplomat that I am not, since it is a gift I am not armed with, but because this is really the case. Thanks to this perfect combination between “Uncle Eri” and Michael’s boys, I am pretty sure that dream and reality will meet up to the right point to allow both me and Michael to appear again and deliver speeches relating to the event.

Thank you very much!