Haxhinasto visits Sofia

TIRANA, July 26 – Albanian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Edmond Haxhinasto made a visit to Sofia, Bulgaria where he had a meeting with his counterpart Nickolay Mladenov.
Both ministers commended the excellent bilateral relations, the political dialogue and the multilateral cooperation.
Haxhinasto reiterated that the climate of the political dialogue between the two countries should be translated into a concrete cooperation to the mutual benefit. He stressed the importance of deepening this cooperation even in issues of regional integration.
Mladenov agreed that there are unexploited opportunities to be considered, which will help strengthening the bilateral economic cooperation, especially on infrastructure projects, energy, tourism, education.
Haxhinasto underlined the need to revitalize the commercial exchanges, as an opportunity for the respective business communities to get closer to each-other.
Haxhinasto praised Bulgaria’s constant support towards Albania’s EU integration process. He expressed Albania’s interest to further deepening the cooperation on EU integration issues and in exchanging experiences in this regard.
Mladenov commended the reforms and Albania’s achievements adding that Albanian citizens deserve to receive from EU the message that they are part of the European integration process.
Haxhinasto praised Bulgaria’s role for the stability in the region as well as for the recognition and support of Kosovo, adding that Albania and Bulgaria have common objectives in the region and share the same vision.
Haxhinasto and Mladenov agreed to better cooperate and coordinate their positions for some important international issues, such as on the developments in Libya, Tunisia, Middle East and beyond. The interlocutors stressed the importance of the cooperation in the framework of international organizations, as well as mutual support of candidacies in these organizations.
During his visit in Sofia, Haxhinasto together with Mladenov visited the Norwegian Embassy to sign the book of condolences for last Friday’s tragedy.
“Radicalism and terrorism are not limited to a single religion or region. At this time our thoughts are with the Norwegian people and government,” Mladenov wrote in the book. “We grieve together with the Norwegian people and government. We share common values of tolerance and multi-culturalism,” Haxhinasto wrote. Both Albania and Bulgaria firmly support tolerance among the religions and among ethnic groups, Mladenov said, commenting on the recent Norwegian massacre at the beginning of a joint briefing with Haxhinasto.