The meeting between the two ministers of agriculture took place in the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, where new opportunities for cooperation between the two countries were discussed.

Germany will be a partner for the development of sustainable agriculture, as well as supporting Albania for EU membership.

This is how the two ministers of agriculture, Mrs. Frida Krifca and the German Minister Mr. Cen Özdemir in the press statement they gave today in Tirana.

Minister Krifca said:

It is a special pleasure and privilege to welcome in Tirana for the first time the German Federal Minister for Agriculture and Food, Mr. Cem Özdemir.

I would like to thank the Minister for the leadership shown in the organization of the Meeting on the Food Crisis held in Berlin in June, within the framework of the G7 and the inclusion of Albania and the countries of the Western Balkans in the attention of Germany and the European Union for the common face of an unprecedented situation caused by Russian aggression in Ukraine.

I would also like to thank him that, like a true friend, he kept his word to visit Albania in a few months, an indication of the attention he pays to Albania and the region in a turbulent geopolitical time.

It should be noted that the visit of Minister Ozdemir comes after the Berlin Process Conference between the European Union and 6 countries of the Western Balkans, where Chancellor Scholz reiterated that without the Western Balkans, the European Union is NOT complete.

Germany is a main partner for the development of a sustainable, productive agriculture, with high standards of quality, environmental protection and ensuring food safety. A partner who stands by us on the road to membership not only with the alignment of legislation with the acquis communitaire, but also with the most effective implementation of the European Union’s green agenda in Albania.

We discussed extensively the entire range of cooperation in the field of agriculture from the development of the 7-year national strategy of agriculture, to the development of a new aid program for the development of agriculture and rural areas, with a direct impact on farmers, livestock farmers and agro-processors in the country , which we will start implementing from January.

I thanked the Minister for his Government’s special attention not only to Albania, but also to the region, where Germany strongly supports the Joint Working Group for the Development of Rural Areas in South-Eastern Europe, whose Presidency this year was held by Albania.

During this visit, the Minister and his team will not only meet leaders and officials, but above all there will be a busy agenda on the ground with farmers, agro-processors, chefs and students of the Agricultural University of Tirana. We want to give the Minister a true sense of the dynamism of Albanian agriculture, as further cooperation is aimed at supporting, but also increasing commercial exchange and joint investments in the field of agriculture.