TIRANA, Jan. 8 – Tirana’s Mayor Erion Veliaj signed an agreement with the Italian Cooperation in Albania today to finance the Orbital Forest – a project aimed to environmentally enrich rural and urban areas of Tirana by planting two million new trees by 2030.
Veliaj and the Director of the Italian Cooperation, Nino Merola, signed the cooperation agreement that foresees the betterment of 23 different areas of Tirana by expanding green surfaces and contributing to a cleaner environment.
“The idea that will live on after our municipality mandate, and even after our lives, is the Orbital Forest. This is why I am very excited that with the help of the Italian Cooperation we just signed the financing of the Orbital Forest, which will bring concrete results in the 23 areas that will be made green through this project,” Veliaj said.
He added that more than an agreement, this is a sign of the good relations between Albania and Italy and especially between Tirana and other Italian cities.
Further on, Veliaj called on citizens and private institutions to join the municipality’s initiative by taking care of the environment and expressed the conviction that by the end of this year’s plantation period, Tirana will be enriched with a thousand new trees.
Meanwhile, Merola seconded Veliaj’s statement on the reinforced friendship between the two countries and said that the Orbital Forest will turn Tirana to a modern European capital.
“We are happy to be working together for the realization of this project which will greatly benefit Tirana, the municipality and the citizens, and transform the city into a modern, European city and an example how good and untiring work achieves good results,” Merola said.
In addition to this project, Tirana’s municipality is working with the Municipality of Verona to clean Tirana, with Florence to finance public bikes and bike lanes and with Milan to perfect the city’s urban plan. According to Veliaj, the continuous good relations between Tirana and other Italian cities have led to their close cooperation.
Veliaj has received positive attention lately for cooperating with major European cities for the development of the capital.
Last July, Veliaj was picked as one of the world’s top 40 mayors to launch to “Bloomberg-Harvard City Leadership Initiative” held in New York under the auspices of former mayor Michael Bloomberg.
Some of the most successful mayors around the world participated at that forum. Veliaj spoke of initiatives such as the Tirana Ime (My Tirana) mobile app or the “Open Data” platform where Tirana citizens have been able to report on issues concerning them and get information on various public services.
Last year’s October Tirana successfully tested the first electric bus and is on track to becoming one of the first European capitals to launch electric buses in a bid to reduce pollution.
