The Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka, together with the Chief Negotiator for EU integration, Majlinda Dhuka, held a press conference regarding the past year performance as well as the priorities for 2023 in foreign policy.

Minister Xhaçka evaluated the achievements of Albania in 2022 as unprecedented, mentioning some of them such as the non-permanent seat in the UN Security Council, the opening of negotiations with EU in July and the EU- Western Balkans Summit held in Tirana.

“European Commission highly evaluated our foreign policy: Albania made good progress and has a good level of preparation in the field of foreign policy. After the official start of negotiations, Albania concluded the analytical processes for the Grouping of the basic chapters. By spring of 2023, it is expected the screening report for the basic Chapters, form the European Commission through which Albania will officially receive the opening benchmarks. Fulfilling the opening benchmarks will make possible the second Intergovernmental Conference that will open the negotiations for the Basic Group chapters,” she said.

The Albanian Chief Diplomat also stated some of Albania’s priorities for 2023 such as: strengthening the role of Albania in the region, furthering the cooperation with Kosovo and North Macedonia, furthering the engagement with the Albanian Diaspora, improving the consular services, etc.

“This year, Albania will lead the Berlin Process and will host the Berlin Process Summit. Both summits in Tirana in 2022 and 2023 show the key role of Albania in the region. It is Albania’s promotion of cooperation in the region – for which the Open Balkans plays a key role – that made possible the progress we have made this year in Berlin Process. Based on achievements and objectives and our ambitious plans for this year, I believe that with all the difficulties we had to face, we have reasons to feel proud, and above all, we have reasons to look optimistically at the coming year, with the belief that better and more prosperous days are to come”, said the Albanian chief diplomat.