The National Flight School opened its doors today, marking a new stage in the modernization of the Albanian Air Force and in strengthening the country’s defense capacities according to NATO standards.

Prime Minister Edi Rama also attended the ceremony organized on this occasion, where he praised the investment as an important step in the transformation of the Armed Forces and in the creation of a center of excellence for the training and certification of pilots and flight controllers.

The Prime Minister also expressed his gratitude for the partnership with the company Elbit Systems, one of the global leaders of the defense industry, which has contributed with its expertise and technology to the implementation of this ambitious project.

***

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Greetings to everyone! At first, it was received with humor and mockery, then it continued with accusations of bankruptcy, and here we are today: the “National Flight School” opens its doors!

First, I want to thank our partners at Elbit Systems, one of the global excellences of the military industry, who believed in and joined us in this ambitious project, placing at our disposal their outstanding knowledge, which makes Elbit Systems one of the most absolute competencies in today’s world of military technology developments.

I also want to thank, I have not done so before, not yet, but today I want to thank him, because KAYO has now taken full shape with a series of partnerships — the General Administrator of KAYO, Mr. Veliu. I want to thank the staff of the Ministry of Defense, and without question the irreplaceable Chief of the General Staff, Kingji, for his impressive dedication, for his extraordinary will, and above all, for his ambition in leading a transformative process for our Armed Forces, which not very long ago, just a decade ago, had been left at the mercy of fate, while our capable, patriotic, well-intentioned people lived as if on the state’s alms, and stories of corruption to secure a place in some peacekeeping mission abroad were painful jokes.

Today, our Armed Force is the best paid in our region, and our declared ambition is that, on the road toward Albania 2030 in the European Union, the Albanian Armed Forces will be at the NATO forces’ average in terms of the contribution of the state, of taxpayers, to their salaries.

I am extremely pleased that, thanks also to the dedicated work of the leadership of the Ministry of Defense, the minister, the deputy ministers, and again thanks to the dedication of the Chief of Staff and the General Staff, we are experiencing a new chapter in the relationship between young people and the Armed Forces. We started this effort with extraordinary difficulty in attracting young people, but today it is becoming increasingly difficult to choose among the many candidates who come forward, and this National Flight School is another example.

We have a considerable number of interested applicants, while our National Flight School is also open to train and certify young pilots from NATO countries in our region, and without question, starting with Kosovo.

The Minister of Defense has been tasked with asking the Minister of Defense of Kosovo whether there is interest in training here and certifying here the future pilots of the Republic of Kosovo, and the same applies also to the two other neighboring countries that are also NATO members, since this school enjoys, from the very first moment, the unquestionable credibility of the international experts of Elbit Systems and certainly also the experience of our people in the Air Force, who, I believe the commander of the Air Force will allow me to say, have begun to smile again.

Today, we have a fully ready air fleet, while we had to pass through unimaginable ordeals of stories, with maintenance, with blockages, with standstills, with all kinds of oddities, and now we are fully ready also to face the annual challenge of the hot season, where the battle with fires is inevitable.

All the helicopters of our air force are operational, while work is also underway to increase capacities for the season. On the other hand, with the government’s new normative act, another number of Black Hawk helicopters from the United States will be added to these forces, and Albania will become a country where the helicopter capacity, whether combat or for civil emergencies, will be among the most distinguished in the region.

Finally, I want to say that this is one step.

The next step is the National School of Special Forces. Again, with our partners at Elbit Systems, we are in discussions to bring here one of the world’s excellences in the training, education, and certification of special forces from Israel. And again, the National School of Special Forces will be a school open to others as well. It will, without question, welcome cadets from the allied countries of the region, starting with Kosovo, but also beyond.

Our ambition is for both new poles of education and transformation of our defense system to turn into poles of excellence beyond the borders of our country, and our guarantee for this is our friends and allies from the security forces, special forces, and air forces of Israel.

Naturally, the school will also cooperate with other partners. It will, without question, be open to other connections as well, but the beginning, which is half the work, is very promising.

I want to wish success to the Air Force. I also want to assure the Naval Forces that their smile will extend further with the construction of the new ships that have now been planned and budgeted to be built at the Fincantieri Albania shipyard in Pashaliman. Meanwhile, thanks to KAYO’s cooperation with Fincantieri and the state’s involvement in that company, we will also secure revenues, because once our needs have been exhausted, we will continue to build warships of that typology together with the Italian partner in order to export them to all allied countries that are in need of that type of warship.

And I will not go on at length with the smile of the “land force,” because the land force has generally been smiling more than the other two forces, right, general? I know! And the allocated state budget, together with the partnerships established with the United States and with another global excellence of the military industry, Leonardo in Italy, will continuously bring our land forces technological innovations, new capacities in weapons, ammunition, logistics, and certainly also in the types of military vehicles they have requested.

Soon we will meet again with the Chief of Staff and with those whom the Chief of Staff will invite, because the Chief of Staff makes the invitations. I invite only the minister, and then he invites me, to open the doors of another joint investment by KAYO with partners for drones that will be built and exported from the Republic of Albania, after they have met the needs of our Armed Forces.

Thank you very much to everyone, and congratulations and success to the candidates to become the Albanian pilots of the new generation, who must bear in mind, surely they do, but I want to say it also for those who are following us, that by being certified by this school, they are not simply pilots of the Republic of Albania; they are NATO pilots and gain the capacity to serve in any country and for anybody of NATO forces in case of need.

Thank you very much!