TIRANA, Jan. 22 – A second round of closed-door discussions between the Albanian and Greek foreign ministers — Ditmir Bushati and Nikos Kotzias — took place this weekend in Korà§a.
The discussions aimed to further advance solutions for bilateral issues that were tackled during the ministers’ first three-day meeting in the island of Crete last November.
Some of the issues discussed in Crete were the possibility of a new Maritime Agreement and Greece’s law on the state of war with Albania.
A joint statement by the two states’ foreign ministries released on Sunday said the discussions took place in a friendly and constructive atmosphere.
“Both parties made substantial progress in reaching stable and long-term solutions for unsolved issues, for the common benefit of their countries and their countries’ citizens,” the statement said.
The Crete meeting also ended with a similar statement, where both sides accepted the importance of dialogue “in finding stable solutions for the countries’ issues.”
Albania’s Greek minority issues were put under the spotlight in Korà§a, according to reports in local media.
Reports also noted that a new Maritime Agreement could become a reality by April, possibly during an upcoming meeting between the countries’ prime ministers — Edi Rama and Alexis Tsipras.
The diplomatic relations between the countries have witnessed a positive turn lately, with concrete steps taken by both sides to substantially solve some of the long-standing, above-mentioned issues.
Last year, Tirana approved the construction of a second cemetery in Bularat for the Greek soldiers that died on Albanian soil during WWII, while President Ilir Meta granted Greek-born Archbishop Anastasios Yannoulatos Albanian citizenship at the end of 2017 — a decision that was enthusiastically welcomed in Athens.
Similarly, Kotzias said last December that Athens is looking to find legal avenues to revoke the war law that has hampered Albania-Greece relations since the end of WWII.
Kotzias said 2018 will be the year of solving issues that have hampered relations with neighboring countries, such as Albania and Macedonia, for many decades.
Rama has also been optimistic towards the achieved progress.
“We are discussing issues so far thought unimaginable, mostly due to the lack of seriousness. We have always considered Greece, along with Turkey and Italy, as part of a strategic triangle, and so we want it to be our strategic partner,” Rama said earlier this year.
