Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ditmir Bushati is attending the meeting of “Friends of Albania” at the Foreign Affairs Council of the EU, an initiative of Foreign Minister of Greece, Nikos Kotzias.

The meeting was attended by Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Italy, Austria, Sweden, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Malta, Cyprus and other EU member states and the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs, Ms. Federica Mogherini.

Minister Bushati thanked the member countries for their continued and unreserved support to Albania’s European perspective and considered this meeting a very good opportunity to discuss the progress made by Albania. Minister Bushati underlined the steps Albania has taken by going through bold reforms in order to build the rule of law and meet the five priorities for the EU accession perspective.

EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs Federica Mogherini praised Albania’s constructive role in the region and added that the opening of accession talks with Albania and Macedonia is a fair decision of mutual interest.

The coordination of the next steps to start accession talks were discussed in the meeting.

In this context, the foreign ministers of member countries praised Albania’s constructive role in the region and the positive results achieved in meeting key priorities for the opening of accession negotiations and approving justice reform, while stressing the importance of their sustainable implementation.

They also highlighted the progress reflected in the Commission’s Report, stressing the progress of state-consolidation reforms and appreciating the determination of the Albanian Government to pursue the implementation of justice reform.