Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Igli Hasani, official visit to Croatia

Minister Hasani's speech at the press conference with his Croatian counterpart Radman

Hello and thank you dear Gordan (in Croatian)!

It is a pleasure for me to be in Zagreb, on this first official visit, right after Albania and Croatia celebrated 15th anniversary of their membership in NATO. Happy to testify that our relations have become friendlier and our cooperation even closer.

I thank my colleague and friend Gordan for his hospitality and I want to confirm that after the election a week ago we are confident of working with the new government in the same spirit of strategic partnership, which is stronger today and is fueled by common priorities of our foreign policy and the same vision for the future of the Western Balkans.

This is evidenced by the intense political dialogue between the two governments in the bilateral and regional framework.

Albania is grateful for Croatia's continuous support for the EU integration of Albania and other countries of the region. After joining the EU, your achievements are encouraging for all of us.

During the meeting, we had a fruitful and open exchange of ideas regarding the further expansion and deepening of bilateral cooperation in all fields.

We decided that the time has come for a G2G meeting between the two governments, as we are convinced that this interaction will give a new, more complete dimension to bilateral cooperation.

For us, Croatia is one of the most important countries in the Balkans, the axis that connects Tirana with Europe by land. And in fact, with Croatia it's not just geography that unites us - we are actually united by a foundation of common values.

Croatia is a positive and driving example of achieving the goal of EU membership in a short time, indicating that efforts and persistence are rewarded. Your model is especially important for us to implement in our integration process. We discussed how to share and put into practice your knowledge in membership negotiations and the help you have provided us in this process.

I take the opportunity to thank you for your concrete assistance with integration experts for our negotiation team.

With my colleague and friend Gordan, we also discussed how to increase cooperation in the field of tourism. 2023 was an impressive year for tourism in Albania with almost 10 million tourists, and to make this development sustainable, experience and cooperation between us are valuable. The launch of direct flights between Tirana and Zagreb in mid-June, is an important step that I hope will be followed by others.

Allow me to express the highest appreciation for the continuous support that Croatia has given and gives to the state of Kosova, a demonstration of which was the recent vote in favor of Kosova's application for membership in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.

Albania and Croatia are convinced that the future of the Republic of Kosova is its Euro-Atlantic integration, together with neighboring and friendly countries in the region.

The Albanian diaspora in Croatia is a stable bridge between the two countries and therefore we value its contribution as a constructive part of Croatian society.

Facing new challenges, caused, influenced or encouraged by the context of developments in Ukraine, we found the need to increase and strengthen bilateral and multilateral cooperation and coordination in the region, but also European and NATO partners to front security challenges today and in the future.

Once again, I thank you for the warm welcome and the fruitful meeting.

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