Statement by Prime Minister Edi Rama at a press conference with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, following the joint meeting of the two governments:
Many thanks, dear friend!
Hello to everyone!
What remains to be said is that what you all saw today is actually the culmination of a preparatory work, a long one, not just to coordinate the documents of the agreements, but to advance a strategic integration plan of our shared space, of our economic and cultural interaction, because the political interaction has not been lacking for a single moment, since the very beginning.
Today’s meeting consolidates permanently a process where the path towards national unity, seen as integration among us, in view of the modernization of our two countries and their full integration in the European Union, has a very concrete and daily dimension of ideas, projects, instruments and common energies that are implementing on a daily basis a joint national effort, the creation of a unified space and a model of cooperation between us, but also for the wider region.
Just as cooperation is deepened in economy, in finance, transport, energy, but also in the field of governance and public administration, environment and cross-border cooperation, and in the event we have to face together natural disasters.
Further easing of any procedure that prevents the flow of exchange between people and goods, in strict economic and trade terms, is an inalienable objective.
A total unification of our countries’ market, and the consolidation of the common energy market are the frame of this commitment. Suffice it to think that as a result of what we committed in the previous meetings of the two governments, the trade volume with Kosovo amounted to 200 million Euros in 2015. In fact, Kosovo has been ranked for the first time second after Italy in the destination of Albanian exports. A similar mutually benefit has had also Kosovo’s entrepreneurship in terms of exports to Albania.
What remains to be said is that everything we have achieved, simply makes us more aware of the great potentials of this cooperation, and of the necessity to maximize them.
We must keep in mind also that the growth in an absolute figure of the people moving between the two sides was 22% in 2015; a very significant figure.
The unification of 20 certificates among the relevant institutions, and procedures for a joint customs terminal, the creation a green corridor for export and import of agricultural products, and the harmonization of seasonal reference prices have given us a new breath in terms of economic interaction.
Of course we are together also in the Berlin Process. We will be together with the Prime Minister and our teams in Paris, at the third station, where we are determined to promote this model.
I want to highlight that this year Albania has made a proposal, which is the main item on the agenda, for the model of cooperation between our two governments, in view of the expansion of space and the removal of non-tariff barriers, to become a regional model, and for borders among countries in the region to practically disappear in terms of free movement of people and goods. According to the estimations made by international experts of the Berlin Process, this will bring a significant increase in trading volumes and a considerable impact on the economy of each of our countries.
Thanks once again Mr Prime Minister! Thanks to our friends of the government of Kosovo for their hospitality, organization and the great commitment they have shown in a process that is not easy at all. It’s very easy to address speeches about the nation and about unity, but it is very difficult to serve the nation and unity while dealing with procedures, certificates, bureaucracies, which in fact are the only opponents we have on the path to national unity.
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In addition to the 7 agreements, you agreed also on another 11 regional projects between the two countries, for two of which funding has been provided. What are they exactly?
Prime Minister Rama: They are 9 agreements, but what is important is not the number of agreements, but their content and what impact they have. What we have aimed together since the first meeting with Prime Minister Thaçi, and then with Prime Minister Mustafa, was not to make agreements just for agreements, but to make agreements based on the joint strategic plan for cooperation and interaction.
For this reason, the number of the agreements is important in terms of the impact they have had, and we are confident that the agreements that were signed today will have a direct impact. Suffice to say of what utmost importance is the agreement on the customs and taxation investigation to facilitate the formalization of the economy on both sides, but also to create the conditions, following a more formalized economy, to provide citizens increased income and a fair division of the burden of contributions; the importance that the agreement on the protection of Lake Fierza, where you are all witnessing what situations, unworthy of a space that is the European, and of two countries that want to integrate into the European Union, are being created in terms of a natural asset which we want today to be formally shared; or the creation in Durres of a special customs terminal of Kosovo, in order to not have two stations for those coming from Durres to Kosovo, but to have the port of Durres also as the port of Kosovo’s. All these are very concrete things.
In terms of what has to do with Paris, a nonsense talk has been made regarding the Berlin Process. It has been said many times, unfairly, that others have benefited more than Albania and Kosovo. It is totally unfair. In fact, Albania and Kosovo are the direct beneficiaries of the first projects approved, but keep in mind that there is a whole process from the approval of projects to their implementation.
We are very clear about this, and are really glad for the courage, leadership and determination of the government of Kosovo to advance the dialogue with Serbia. We are delighted, because it is the international force of Kosovo’s image and policy that brings as a result many other things that at first glance seem unrelated, the liberalization of visas, the FIFA, UEFA and so on. It shows Kosovo in a positive light, as a state and a country governed with responsibly in relation to liabilities.
I say this because Albania is determined to strongly stimulate the relationship with Serbia, because we are convinced that Serbs and Albanians can do for the Balkans what the French and Germans did for Europe.
In this interaction that has us together in purpose but divided into two states, we are resolutely clear about the strategic plan. This has resulted in both Albania and Kosovo have big payoffs in terms of the political support that they enjoy today, in addition to advancing processes.
Everyone should believe that hadn’t the government of Kosovo been firmly insistent on the path of dialogue, visa liberalization would not have happened. Everyone should believe that hadn’t the government of Kosovo and Kosovo radiated this excellent example by showing the world that, after being massacred in a war, it stretched out a hand of reconciliation, it has given and gives every day, with evidence, the example of how minorities are treated here, in this country where Albanians were brutally massacred, today Kosovo would not have had the doors opened, and we wouldn’t have been able to talk about a new quality of the relations between NATO and Kosovo, which Albania advocates strongly and will continue to advocate in every instance. Even at the next NATO summit in Warsaw, we will emphasize very strongly that it is time that Kosovo is granted a new status in its relations with NATO.
You reiterate often that peace and cooperation among states is the only way for the European perspective of the countries in the region. However, as we are talking today, but also if we go back three years ago when the first meeting between the two governments was held, between Kosovo and Serbia there are still many open issues. It is also almost the same lack of readiness of Belgrade to resolve these issues, which are vital for an independent state such as Kosovo. Do you think that, if the same practice from Belgrade continues, perhaps another chapter can be opened that may affect in terms or instability, or create new concerns in the Balkans?
Prime Minister Rama: If there were no more open issues with Belgrade in three years, then we would not have a human reality, but an angelic reality in the Balkans. There are open issues also between us internally, between parties in Kosovo, between parties in Albania; I am sure there are open issues between you and your neighbours. But at the end of the day we must put everything in context, and putting things in context makes us Albanians very encouraged by everything we have done. For in the meantime, despite the open issues, despite the problems in a process of dialogue that cannot go ahead smoothly, and cannot be concluded in a short time, what is up to Kosovo is progress.
Open issues have not prevented Kosovo to raise its voice and have other doors open. The door of visa liberalization, for which we have fought in every instance – when I say we I mean unquestionably the government of Kosovo but also our government; UEFA and FIFA membership, and many other doors are the result of a simple truth: Kosovo is sustainably, firmly, clearly in the right direction.
As long as Kosovo reflects higher accountability in relation to international obligations, open issues will go in parallel, but not one ahead of another as an obstacle.
I have been and remain of the opinion that the sooner Serbia is delivered from the obsession of Kosovo’s recognition, the better it will be for Serbia, in the first place.
On the other hand, we cannot take others, our neighbours, as we want us to be, but as they are, and we need to find internal moral and political capacity to advance a process that is directly beneficial to us, that is our interest.
We don’t have to enhance dialogue with Serbia, or have closer relations between Albania and Serbia just because we are asked to do so by the US, Europe or anyone else. We are asked to do so by our children, the children of Albania, the children of Kosovo, and as far as Serbs are concerned, the children of Serbia. It is their right to live in a reality totally freed from what their predecessors have seen, experienced and suffered.
Everyone should believe a very simple truth, concretely illustrated, and not because the prime ministers, presidents, parties or anyone who is interested to promote achievements says it, but because reality does. Is Kosovo today closer or further away than it was 6 months ago from a strategic project of being on its own, for itself and with others, just as the others? It is closer.
Certainly there are many more steps to be done, but at the end of the day Serbia’s reluctance is in the first place the cost of Serbia, not of Kosovo’s. It’s very simple.
Before coming here, I took as reference two credible agencies of statistics to have a look at the trade exchanges between the two countries. The Albanian Institute of Statistics shows that exchanges between Kosovo and Albania consist mostly in scrap. Our Agency of Statistics shows that this April the volume of trade exchange was less compared to the same month last year. Realistically, what do these figures mean to you, which are in fact neither speeches nor demagogy, or oratory?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: You did the speech, in this case. You talked about April, but also with regard to February, March or May you will see something that is a fact, despite the credible agencies. The fact is that we have a growing trade volume, and thanks to the measures we have taken, exports of Albania and Kosovo have amounted to 200 million Euros. It is not a figure that should make you happy, neither us, but is an important step. The fact is that Kosovo is now the second country in the list of destinations of Albanian exports. I have had many contacts in the first period of this year with many Albanian export ventures, and it is clear that their business plans are already strongly oriented, primarily towards Kosovo, and beyond in the region.
Thank you for your question. Note one more other thing. In terms of the coalition I lead, April is the best month, especially April 1st is a good day.
