Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ditmir Bushati, received in a meeting the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, Miro Cerar, in the framework of his official visit to Tirana. Interlocutors reconfirmed friendly relations, traditionally very good and with positive progress over the years between countries. Minister Bushati praised Slovenia’s supportive position for opening negotiations with the EU in June 2019, which comes as a result of reading concrete results in the reforms undertaken by the Albanian government.

Also, Minister Bushati underlined that a proactive and lobbying role of Slovenia, as it was for obtaining candidate status, would be more than welcome for the opening of negotiations in June 2019. Minister Bushati thanked his Slovenian counterpart for supporting of Albania for the OSCE Presidency for 2020 and expressed optimism about the reconciliation of joint actions to secure the position of Albania’s interim member to the UN Security Council for the period 2022-2023.

During the constructive and friendly talks, it was emphasized that the Western Balkans region should have a clear future in the European Union, and that integration and co-operation between these countries remains as important. Also, the interlocutors highlighted the important role of Albania and the Albanian factor in terms of stability, security and peace in the Western Balkans region.

During the conversation, the need for a qualitative increase and new impetus in deepening economic co-operation has been underlined to bring it up to the level of political cooperation. In this context, the two ministers welcomed the Albanian-Slovenian Business Forum, praising the mutual interest and the untapped real potential so far, pointing out that economic cooperation will be a priority for both foreign ministries and economic diplomacy.

Minister Bushati emphasized that the Business Forum is the ultimate testimony of joint engagement and a confirmation of the real potential for increasing trade exchanges, strengthening economic cooperation, and boosting investment. In this context, at the Albanian-Slovenian Business Forum, emphasis was placed on the importance of cooperation in the fields of tourism, energy, environment, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, etc.

Bushati – Cerar joint press conference,

Good morning everyone!

It is my pleasure to host today in Tirana, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, Mr. Miro Cerar; also, I would like to say to you Miro: welcome to Tirana. During this visit, we had the opportunity to share views on the progress of bilateral relations between Albania and Slovenia in the political, economic and trade aspect. We appreciate Slovenia’s valuable assistance in the framework of the European integration process. I would like to remind you that Slovenia is a supporting country in the enlargement process, a supportive country for Albania. This support was demonstrated in 2014, when Albania was granted the status of a candidate country, but also during the heated discussions at the last Council in June where Slovenia was clearly listed in the group of countries supporting Albania. We also had a fruitful discussion regarding our cooperation in international organizations, as you know our country has expressed the ambition to take over the OSCE leadership in 2020 and we are glad that Slovenia officially supports Albania’s candidacy for 2020. In addition, we discussed about our common engagement with the UN, with the forthcoming NATO ministerial where Albania and Slovenia cooperate, coordinating their views, mainly with regard to the security challenges faced by the Western Balkans or South East Europe.

Today we will also have the opportunity to hold a business forum together with the business community in our two countries. We hope and wish that the business forum currently taking place in Tirana is also a clear signal, an encouraging spark to increase trade volumes between our two countries, to increase the impetus of economic cooperation which, for the sake of truth, does not reflect the very good political relationship that exists between Albania and Slovenia. Part of our discussion today was the exchange of an analysis and views of the security situation and the challenges faced by the Western Balkans. I am pleased to note that we share the same views as to how Albania and Slovenia see many developments in the region and at the same time express our willingness to continue working together to make the necessary contribution to the further strengthening of the democratic stability of the region and to ensure the European and Euro-Atlantic perspective of all countries in the region. I would like to pass the floor to my friend Miror Cerar, thanking him once again for his visit to Tirana today. The floor is yours.

Speech by Slovenian Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, Miror Cerar

Thank you very much. I am very happy to be here today and would like to thank the Minister of Foreign Affairs, my dear colleague Ditmir, for his warm and friendly welcome to his capital.

I am really pleased that the relations between Slovenia and Albania are friendly and have no open issues and I can say that it is now a quarter of a century since the establishment of our diplomatic relations and, at the same time, I am very happy to congratulate you on the tomorrow’s Day of Independence anniversary. You should be very proud of your country, and I would say that it is a beautiful place which deserves to continue with the progress that has already been made. In fact, we are very interested in intensifying relations with Albania and I am convinced that there is plenty of opportunity to further strengthen the good cooperation already existing especially in the field of economy. As you heard we have come, actually I came here, together with a group of prominent Slovenian businessmen and representatives of our Chamber of Commerce and I believe that the meeting of business people will contribute to a better economic cooperation, which is currently still modest although trade exchange goes over 53m euros. Again, it is modest as we still have plenty of opportunities to expand this cooperation and we will eventually do it.

As Ditmir said, we are constantly and actively supporting Albania’s EU integration and we will continue to do so. We recognized the significant steps Albania has made on its European path in recent years and we expect the negotiations to start in June next year. Slovenia will absolutely support very strongly that these accession negotiations begin for Albania in June next year. We welcome the beginning of the implementation of various reforms, especially a reform such as the judiciary, although I know that it is a very difficult but necessary process for Albania to become more developed and a member of the EU. I am also grateful that we are good NATO allies and that we share so many perspectives on issues related to the region, the Western Balkans region. We have discussed issues between Serbia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, among other things I can say that we share views and understand that the European integration process must continue. I believe that the EU should leave the door open to all these countries, but they should be treated on an individual basis, where each country fulfills the necessary conditions. Then they can continue to walk in this reform process. I really hope the reform continues successfully. We already said that we will support Albania in the candidacy of its OSCE Presidency for 2020. Similarly, there are other reciprocal processes of support among the countries that are very important. Last but not least, there is also cooperation in process or cooperation development as Slovenia has provided 2m euros for technical assistance to Albania and we will continue to support Albania in the context of its EU integration process, especially by implementing projects of bilateral technical assistance aimed at strengthening good governance, which are twinning projects and so on. Thus, we want to be as useful as possible, to provide expertise, know-how and everything we can to support your reforms and your journey to the ultimate EU membership.

So, thank you very much for the warm hospitality as I said and I wish you all the best in the months and years to come.

Question – Mariglen Kume – Tema TV: Yesterday Secretary Pompeo and Kosovo President Hashim Thaçi held a meeting and they finally made a statement that Kosovo and Serbia should reach a stable and viable agreement. How do you see this attitude of America, and does this exclude the possibility of border correction? A question for both ministers.

Minister Bushati: Thank you for the question. I just need to remind you that I am Minister of Foreign Affairs and I am not an analyst. And in this context, I find it difficult to make implicit interpretations of US explicit positions whose role is irreplaceable to the security perimeter of Southeast Europe, without mentioning their irreplaceable contribution to the Albanian nation and to the Independence of Kosovo. I think that the statement of the Secretary of State, yesterday, after the meeting with the President of the Republic of Kosovo, is clear and calls for a stable, viable agreement for an agreement that will above all add to security in the Western Balkans.

Minister Cerar: As you know, Slovenia was among the first states to recognize Kosovo’s independence, but at the same time we have friendly relations with both Kosovo and Serbia. We wish them a successful way to a viable deal. We understand that this is a very difficult process but we believe in dialogue and we believe that dialogue should continue and bring agreements that will provide both countries and their respective people with the opportunity to live in peace and without further conflicts. It is therefore very important that if there is a new border agreement, it is very concrete, very precise, viable and should be a good example for the entire region, not a bad example; thus, of course this should be left to the two countries, they must reach the agreements and we will continue to support the dialogue and the political path towards such a deal.

Question – Ola Mitre – Scan TV: You mentioned that economic co-operation and trade exchange between the two countries is not at a very enjoyable level. What have been some of the culprits that have led to this situation and what are some of the measures you mentioned that will affect the growth of the existing trade exchanges and economic cooperation between countries. A question for both ministers.

Minister Bushati: I believe that the more Albania advances in the European integration process and the more the EU is seriously focused on issues related to the interconnectedness of our region, the more the chances for the development of economic relations between our two countries increase. Paradoxically, we are close to and far away, geographically close, but physically away because of lack of interconnectivity and due to the fact that during these years more is spoken than practically done in this regard. I do not believe that there was a lack of political will either in Albania or in Slovenia to get physically closer, but there is obviously no clear strategy of the European Union and the Western Balkan countries in terms of when and how the South East European interconnection process will be finalized. Let me give you an example: The Blue Highway, or the Blue Corridor, as we call it, is one of the two main axes expected to rely on the Berlin process, which would of course, create a golden opportunity to shut down from the point of view of infrastructure the entire Mediterranean tourism ring, ranging from Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Montenegro, Albania to finish in Greece. Thus, it would have an impact on the economy of the region in the broadest sense of the word. The fact that today the Slovenian business community who have come to Albania to meet and talk with Albanian counterparts are focused on such areas as environment, infrastructure and so on, means that these areas are defined as the ones where the Slovenian economy has a comparative advantage and can transfer knowledge that in English are referred to “know-how”, means that there is an opportunity for the Albanian business community to first absorb such know-how and then join forces so that we then have an intensification of the economic dimension. Similarly, I highly appreciate the Slovenian expertise, especially within the European integration process, not just in the rhetoric contained in this process itself, but in transposing or absorbing those often complex and detailed EU standards, especially in the field of agriculture and environment for which I hope, wish and I will work to the extent that I can so that they are best absorbed from our side. However, this is a two-way process and we highly appreciate the fact that for the first time a visit of the Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia is accompanied by the development of this activity for which, of course, a major role has been also played by the Slovenian Embassy in Tirana and the Tirana Chamber of Commerce.

Minister Cerar:  Well, my dear colleague Ditmir explained almost everything so I would probably add perhaps that Slovenia has been traditionally linked, I mean it was related to trade, it was part of the former Yugoslavia and our trade was later developed, however, Dmitri said there are no obstacles at the political level, but we need to intensify out our contacts to open the door to business people of all kinds and we will continue to do so. I am delighted that our Minister of Economy visited Tirana last year and the first consultations between Albania and Slovenia were held on 11 October of the current year in Tirana and, as I already mentioned, I am here with our Slovenian delegation composed of business people, representatives of Chambers of Commerce, etc. Perhaps I can also mention that the value of Slovenian investments in Albania goes to 18 million euros by the end of 2017, however unfortunately there have been no investments of Albania in Slovenia, thus we would like to invite Albanian companies to come to Slovenia, explore our business environment and invest in our country. There are many potentials, especially in the field of environmental protection, energy, agriculture, food industry and, of course, infrastructure and tourism. I think there are many opportunities that we could benefit from in the future.

Thank you very much.