Speech of Prime Minister Edi Rama at the joint press conference with the Prime Minister of Turkey Binali Yıldırım

Many thanks Dear Prime Minister!

I want to assure you, as a dearest friend of ours, that Albania and Albanians wherever they live are close to the people of Turkey in this day of sorrow. We are abreast with your government in the fight against the terrorist plague that kills and sheds blood in the name of a god that has no connection at all with God and the message of the prophets.

I would like to offer my deepest condolences, also on behalf of the Albanian people, to the families and relatives of the victims, and from here in Ankara, in this holy month of Ramadan, I tell them in unison with the touching hadith of the Prophet that “a true believer is the one who does not spread panic among mankind with the brutality of his language or strength of his arm.”

These bright words, like every word and page of the holy books, were stained with blood and desecrated again last night – just like it happened on the bloody evening in Paris or in the similar massacre in Brussels – by the brutal killers of vulnerable pedestrians. But this time, they destroyed families who in this holy month dedicate themselves to peace and the prayers of Ramadan.

Therefore, if the Pope is right when he says that a third world war has started, the victory over the second one teaches us that no difference can justify people not coming together in front of barbarism that aims to destroy all the differences that make the world a place worth living in, and not fighting to make it better, more peaceful and freer.

Just like Prime Minister Yıldırım, I am convinced that those who transformed this day of the holy month in a day of grief for Turkey, will never and ever halt this blessed country and the strength of the dreams and hopes of all of us, believers and non believers, united together around the table of humankind love.

Albania and Turkey have been together in this table of humankind love since a long time. We have seen with pleasure the entire panorama of the things that bind us and unite us, and we have also found that the potential to do more is overwhelming.

Together with Prime Minister Yıldırım we are committed to carrying forward an intensive process of cooperation to further increase economic exchanges and trade, as well as exchanges in education and culture, so that what we nourish for each other as people and countries many not exceed what we realistically do in terms of economic services and trade exchanges.

Let me thank you once again Prime Minister for your generous hospitality, and for the fact that you stuck to the invitation, although on a such difficult day, fact that multiples my gratitude.

The Prime Minister said that I am his first guest since he took office. I told him that I am used to be the tallest guest in the countries I visit, but this is the first time I am the first guest, and I hope that together with my colleagues from Tirana we will bring you good luck in this task so difficult, but also so noble in serving Turkey, and among many other things the relations with Albania and Albanians who are inseparable friends with the Turkish people.

In addition to security issues, which of course are a matter of the day, did you talk about economic issues and the increased presence of Turkish investments in Albania?

Prime Minister Edi Rama: What the Prime Minister said is absolutely the essence of all the conversation we had together, as it was of the conversation I had earlier with President Erdoğan, to whom also I expressed my condolences on the tragedy last night. Then we talked long about the great potential of this special relationship between Turkey and Albania, of the strategic partnership between the two countries that have so many things uniting them, and that together can do many more things.

Of course, in terms of economy Albania is more than a welcoming country, it is a country completely open for investments from Turkey in every sector. We talked about the banking sector. We also talked about the water sector. We talked about what we can do together in terms of projects, not just national ones, but also regional projects related to energy, and certainly in terms of bringing an increasing number of companies that create new jobs and benefit from a favourable fiscal system and a more favourable geographic proximity, so that we will be able to create together – I hope also with the direct contribution of the Turkish companies – new economic zones. We think that we are in the conditions where we can open a new page in this cooperation.

The proximity and security created in a relationship, where in terms of security we have successfully talked together the common challenges related to terrorism, or world peace – in the framework of NATO we have a complete success – we certainly are in the conditions to be totally successful also in this aspect, which is not easy because it took time to attract Turkish investors to our country where very few guaranties were offered until yesterday, and from where many Turkish companies fled away, because they were unhappy about the way they were treated.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama was received in an official ceremony with military honours by Turkish Prime Minister Binali Yıldırım, who said he was pleased to have the head of the Albanian government as the first prime minister to be hosted in Ankara after he took office a few weeks ago.

The common challenges in the field of security and economy were the main topics of conversation between the two prime ministers and the accompanying delegations.

After the meeting, the two prime ministers held a joint press conference.