THE SPEECH OF THE MINISTER IGLI HASANI, AT THE JOINT PRESS CONFERENCE WITH HIS COUNTERPART PETER SZIJJARTO

I would like to thank Minister Szijjártó for the invitation and his hospitality. It is indeed a pleasure to be in Budapest today, the capital of a country which Albania and Albanians alike consider so special and, whose history dates back to the friendship and allegiance of our respective National Heroes.

What is truly important though, is that Albania and Hungary knew how to develop these historical foundations through mutual efforts and tangible results, into a meaningful relationship that continues to benefit our countries and our societies.

In this regard, I must whole-heartedly thank Minister Szijjártó again, for his personal contribution in strengthening and reinforcing the cooperation between our countries in these recent years.

Today, we had the chance to exchange our thoughts and ideas on how we can further strengthen our cooperation across all sectors, including here politics, economy and much more.

We assessed the fact that our political cooperation is held in the highest of considerations, and we can see it manifesting through continuous bi-lateral dialogue as well as High-Level official visits between Tirana and Budapest. In June, we had the honour of welcoming Prime Minister Orban in Tirana, while we have had the pleasure of meeting with Minister Szijjártó more often, with the most recent one being in New Delhi almost a month ago. I believe this is a good practice that is worth holding on to in the future.

This excellent political cooperation has now morphed into a fruitful economic cooperation that is exponentially developing by the day. Hungary is as prominent as it has ever been thus far in the Albanian market.

A few examples like OTP Bank, WizzAir and 4iG can attest that Albania's market climate has proved itself as a suitable terrain for the cultivation of their activities, and I wish the very same for Albanian businesses that wish to operate in the Hungarian market. In this aspect, we encourage the organization of the next session of Joint Intergovernmental Commission for Economic Cooperation between Albania and Hungary, which can be an excellent tool for exploring and developing new cooperation opportunities for this sector.

Today we signed 2 new agreements, which substantially contribute into strengthening our relationship with Hungary.

The first bi-lateral agreement, "Stipendium Hungaricum" aims to strengthen the cooperation in the Education sector through fellowship schemes and student exchange programs, graduate and post-graduate levels, extending until the year 2027 (for now).

On the other hand, the Memorandum for Understanding in the diplomacy sector aims to further extend and develop the cooperation in the scope of training for diplomats and exchange of knowledge in the relevant academic disciplines. In this context, our diplomats will benefit from the Hungarian expertise with a particular focus on EU accession negotiations, area in which we have benefitted for years already from Hungarian diplomats that are serving as attachés at the MEFA.

I want to take an extra moment on EU integration.

We are very grateful to Hungary and Minister Szijjártó personally for their support. Hungary has been relentlessly advocating for the EU integration of the Western Balkans, considering this to be a strategic objective of its foreign policy. The fact that the Hungarian Presidency of the European Council has expressed the integration of the Western Balkans as one of its priorities, is a very clear indicator of their commitment to the cause.

We would have liked our region and the importance of its integration to be understood by as many EU countries as well as our Hungarian friends. I am convinced that the process would have been much more advanced than it is today.

I would like to close by assuring my colleague that we will do everything to ensure that our cooperation continues to intensify in the future, with other high-level visits, which we hope will take place before or during the Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the EU, for which we wish Hungary and Minister Szijjártó success!

With the invitation and hope that we will see one-another in Tirana next,

I thank you.

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