With maritime border still in dispute, prime minister-designate says there are challenges to overcome with Greece, but Tirana is prepared to open a new chapter in relations
TIRANA, Aug. 8 – Turkey has moved up in the priority list of Albania’s foreign relations, and the new government wants to see higher cooperation than ever before with Ankara, Albanian Prime Minister-designate Edi Rama has said following a visit to meet with Turkish Prime Minister RecepTayyipErdogan.
Before taking office in September, Rama is conducting a series of meetings with foreign leaders, setting the ground work for Albania future foreign policy. Immediately following his Turkey visit, he headed to Athens, where he met with Prime Minister Antonis Samaras. He previously also visited Rome.
Rama has said in a recent interview with private broadcaster Top Channel that he envisions a “triangle” of regional strategic partners for Albania, which would add Turkey to the traditional duo of Greece and Italy.
“These are work meetings to establish a basis of cooperation in function of a strategic partnership with Italy, Turkey and Greece, being aware that Albania has not done enough in bilateral relations during these past years,” Rama said in the interview. “Getting Turkey involved is part of our program ŠWe are also ready to establish a level that has not been known before in the relations with Turkey.”
He added that there were challenges to overcome with Greece, but “we are prepared to open a new chapter, since the relations went to the lowest level in the past years.”
Albania and Greece are yet to come up with an agreement on the maritime border between the two countries, after Albania’s higher court voided a previous agreement seen as unfair by most Albanians. Rama was among the supporters of scraping the first agreement.
“Our position is known on this matter, and we have the will to resolve it, same as our neighbors. I am convinced that with good will and mutual trust, there is nothing that cannot be resolved,” Rama told Top Channel.
Greek Foreign Minister Evangelos Venizelos is due to visit Albania in the fall, according to a statement after this week’s meeting.
“Athens is particularly keen to cultivate its relationship with Rama as he played a key role in nixing a 2009 agreement between Greece and Albania for the creation of an exclusive economic zone, allowing gas and oil exploration to progress,” according to an analysis by Greek newspaper Kathimerini. “A new energy-related link between the two countries was created last month when the Trans Adriatic Pipeline was picked to carry Azeri natural gas to Western Europe. The pipeline will pass through Greece and Albania.”
Rama also added that Italy is also a strategic partner that has helped Albania quite a bit in previous years, and that his government would work to further the partnership for social and economic development with Rome.
In light of his foreign policy trips, Rama said he will also visit Pristina, Brussels and New York before the new government is sworn in.
In terms of Euro-Atlantic orientation, experts don’t expect any change in the new government’s policies, which will continue to push for EU integration, but the new government will have to work to deal with challenges in the relations with Greece as well as further develop relations with Italy.
The two countries have been Albania’s traditional partners because of geographic and human ties, but Turkey, with its stronger economic growth and historic ties, has also been gaining more influence in Albania in recent years.
“I believe that with a new and courageous foreign policy, Albania will have a stronger role in the region and in the partnership with the United States and the European Union,” Rama added in his interview with Top Channel.
