BILATERAL RELATIONS BETWEEN ALBANIA AND FINLAND

 

Finland is located in Northen Europe. Finland has land borders with its Nordic neighbours Norway and Sweden, and the three nations’ borders all meet at Treriksröset (The Three-Country Cairn). Finland also has a land border with Russia and sea borders with Estonia and Åland. Its geographic size is about 338,440 km2. Its capital is Helsinki and the official languages are Finnish and Swedish.The politics of Finland take place within the framework of a parliamentary representative democracy.

Finland is one of six countries (known as ‘Enhanced Opportunity Partners’ under the Partnership Interoperability Initiative) that make particularly significant contributions to NATO operations and other Alliance objectives. Finland is a member of the EU since January 1, 1995.

 

OVERVIEW

Diplomatic relations between Albania and Finland were established on August 27, 1956. Albania covers diplomatic relations with Finland through its Embassy in Stockholm, while Finland covers diplomatic relations with Albania  through its Embassy in Athens.

BILATERAL RELATIONS

Finland supports the integration process of our country in the European Union, initially with the conclusion of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, then for obtaining the status of the candidate country and recently with the decision to open the accession talks with EU. In addition to political support, Helsinki also contributes to various development projects in Albania.

Several high level visits have been exchanged during the last years. On 15 – 16 May 2019, former Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Cakaj visited Helsinki, while on October 2, 2019 Finnish Minister of Foreign Affairs Peka Havisto visited Tirana, in the framework of his tour to the Western Balkan Region. This visit took place also, in the context of strengthening positive bilateral relations.