Prime Minister Marin visited Albania and met Prime Minister Rama

Prime Minister Marin visited Albania and met Prime Minister Rama

On Tuesday 21 June, Prime Minister Sanna Marin's visit to Western Balkans continued in Tirana, Albania, where she had a bilateral meeting with Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The topics discussed by the two Prime Ministers were Finland's application to join NATO and how this will strengthen NATO's security, Russia's war of aggression in Ukraine, the EU accession process of Albania and bilateral relations.

At the press conference after the meeting Prime Minister Marin noted that both Albania and Finland are active and constructive members of the international community. "We are both working hard to deepen the European integration and strengthen the Euro-Atlantic community. Together we will help Ukraine and try to make Russia stop its cruel war against our friends."

Marin thanked Albania for the strong and clear support for Finland's application to join NATO. Albania is a strong advocate of NATO's open door policy. "Finland and Sweden will strengthen NATO as a whole," Marin said.

Finland has been a strong supporter of EU enlargement for a long time. "We want all Western Balkan countries to join the EU, when they fulfil the criteria. Our primary aim is to start accession negotiations with North Macedonia and Albania without delay. We want to support Albania's accession to the EU," Marin said.

From Tirana Prime Minister Marin will travel to Zagreb, where she will meet the Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and President Zoran Milanović. Marin will return to Finland on Tuesday evening.

Inquiries: Jari Luoto, State Under-Secretary for European Affairs, tel. +358 50 468 5949; Lauri Voionmaa, Special Adviser (International Affairs), tel. +358 50 421 0422 and Päivi Paasikoski, Director of Government Communications, tel. +358 40 547 6279, Prime Minister's Office

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.