Prime Minister Edi Rama at meeting with representatives of the diplomatic missions in Albania at an interactive session on the Albanian government’s National Rebirth 100 Villages program:

I am so happy and really grateful for your presence at this quite unusual meeting we host today.

We are here together – as it always is the case – with the European Union Member States, the representatives of the other rest of the world, as well as with our friends from various international bodies for something unusual yet very important to us, which could be important for you too, and that is our “100 Villages” program we want to provide a success story in the whole rural rebirth program. This project brings us together to see how we can interact and harmonize all efforts many of you are already supporting through the various channels of cooperation and to possibly make the impossible possible, so all of us move in one direction and in full coordination to make the best out of us and maximize the revenue from the governments provide to donors and entrepreneurs.

We have prepared two meeting sessions. Our main goal is to transform this program into a multi-partnership platform to increase the various resources and potential of these villages and generate a change based on micro-models, therefore, in different types of models..

The goal is to create 100 various gravitational centres in different regions and villages across the country use them as catalysts for development of agritourism and ecotourism in Albania by exploring cultural heritage, natural beauties, local capacities, as well as different private instruments.

As you might have been informed, we are totally focused on the agritourism development as an efficient instrument to combat poverty, isolation and exclusion through the good use of Albania’s fantastic assets thanks to its nature and traditions. Of course in these efforts money is important, but not the most important thing. The most important elements are the different knowledge and interaction. I am pretty confident that based on that we have started together Johann and our common friend, the former Swiss Ambassador, due to some existing programs we strongly believe we can share information with all of you and make the best out of our various contributions that could be made.

But this is not all about infrastructure investments, environmental protection, cultural heritage, but it also has to do with investing efforts in the exchange human capital. If we all together establish twining relations among all villages included in this program with villages in your countries and make sure that farmers, or individuals who have successfully invested in agritourism in your countries establish contacts with people who might be successful here in Albania, to include then the youth organizations, women organizations in order to develop joint models and approaches among the various rural area and support further development of craftsmanship and traditions and I’m sure it will be something very fantastic.

The village to village patronage initiative can transform many of the things you have already done or are currently doing in your own countries into something that can bring us more added value.

This would be a very strong message to the people living in the rural areas. We want to tell them they are not alone and they are not abandoned to their fate to share the space, which might be beautiful when it comes to the nature, but which is unfortunately poor.

There are several elements we would like to introduce today and I am pretty sure you will contribute to these discussions by sharing your experiences and it is crucially important to be very open and let us know anything that has not worked well or anything that needs to be improved when it comes to coordination with local governments, to various organizations on the ground. Your suggestions will be taken into consideration. That would help us a lot.

We very strongly believe that there is a big potential, we believe we should develop agriculture and farming, but this is not the only way. Of course there are other more successful ways to move forward. There are areas that know export, know the European market well, know the marketing well, but there are also others areas where these elements are really difficult due to various objective difficulties and because of underdevelopment of these areas. If for the people who are working hard and seeing significant profits, in where agriculture is developing and where exports are also developing, the point is how to to further stimulate these developments, but for people in areas where these things are not happening, the question is how to get out of this isolation and how to reach the market.

Practically they can’t reach the market, because they are separated from the market sometimes because of the long roads, not old, but often destroyed roads, the transport cost to reach the market. The coast to reach the market is significantly high compared to what they would earn from the sale of their products.

But what can be done? The answer is tourism. I visited Lura recently. Many of you have already visited Lura. I was the second Prime Minister to vosit Lura since’50s. It is a paradise, a nature wonder, but also, as a great Albanian poet has said it is a beauty that kills, because practically people there are far from the possible markets where they could sell what they grow and produce, but on the other hand they are blessed with a fantastic potential as the area is home to seven lakes, a fantastic forest and the pristine nature.

So the challenge is how to help them transform all these elements into real wealth and how to also help people who have emigrated to Greece, the Netherlands, England, Germany, Switzerland, and Austria and all over Europe for a better life. They work hard for years now and are making savings. So the challenge is how to help this people to invest their savings in their villages so that they transform into much bigger income compared to what they earn from hard work in Europe. But for this we need to build trust, develop trustworthy programs, which show this is possible.

The “100 Villages” program could also become a magnet for these people who live abroad to return home and invest in Albania, in their homeland, in their own village. They are also an instrument to show the young people, who are growing in these villages, that “yes, if you go to Germany, France, the Netherlands or England, of course you can find a higher-paying job compared to what you currently earn here, but if you see, if you want to transform your village into an attractive destination, you can do it without going abroad,  you can do it better and earn much more considering the difficulties you encounter while emigrating.

Of course this is a long process. I am not naïve to think things will change overnight, but it is a process that we can start together and I am very confident that you can provide us hundreds of ideas that will enrich this vision and the program we have developed, at the same time you can also make a concrete contribution that can be transformed into something larger. It can be transformed into a realistic program to attract migrants so they can return home to invest in the country, not only when it comes to opening large businesses, but also to improve quality life and increase income growth in their own villages.

This is fortunately possible, is not theoretical and is not easy because we see it happening in many of your countries, but this is practical because we see its fruits in our country. You have visited different parts of our country, you have been accommodated in little welcoming houses where you can taste and enjoy food and hospitality. This also counts for many tourists who visit Albania not only for its beaches, not only for the sunlight, but they keep coming to visit the Alps and the rural areas, from Thethi to Përmet, various regions in Albania’s north and south and their number keeps growing. Albania is home to canyons, mountains, which are like a huge mine of potential wealth and revenue if we know how to build a good program.

I consider this event the first meeting of the board of “the 100 Villages” program. This is also a table we can meet time after time to take stock of the progress we have made and asses what changes have taken place on the ground in order to make such changes.

Thank you very much for your presence!

I would also like to appreciate the university representatives and Tirana urban planners, because we want also to create an academy of “the 100 villages”, which would be a kind of a laboratory where people will work to ease and support our activities, knowing that we have the right people in the municipalities across the country, but we need more human resources in order to do things on time.

This is another part of the program, which has to with how things can really be organized. We have developed programs with our urban planning lecturers, students and professors can come together and develop projects for one village or another.

Thank you very much and I am deeply grateful for the work you have already done.