TIRANA, Dec. 12 – Italian Minister for Foreign Affairs Luigi di Maio visited Albania on Wednesday, December 11, meeting the highest state representatives and reaffirming Italy’s support towards Albania’s difficult post-earthquake situation and its overall European Union aspirations, which he said should move forward through political parties’ cooperation.
Albanian President Ilir Meta asked Italy for help in reconstructing the buildings destroyed by the November 26 earthquake through its Foreign Affairs Minister Luigi di Maio, who officially met Meta after meeting Prime Minister Ed Rama and opposition leader Lulzim Basha.
Through a statement, Meta’s press office announced he thanked Maio for Italy’s unwavering support and asked him for help in overcoming this difficult time for the country.
“The head of state expressed deep gratitude for the immediate help offered from Italy in the rescuing operations after the November 26 earthquake and asked for Italian assistance and rebuilding and rehabilitating affected areas,” the president’s office announced.
Meta also appeared grateful for Italy’s efforts to open EU accession talks for Albania as soon as possible.
“There is no other alternative for the region but EU accession and we value Italy’s full support towards this grand objective,” Meta said.
Both leaders mentioned Italy’s importance in the economic sector as well, being Albania’s biggest trading partner, while Meta welcomed an even bigger presence of Italian businesses in the country.
“Anyway, we expect an even bigger presence of the main Italian investors in strategic sectors in Albania and we are willing to promote this presence of Italian investments in Albania,” Meta underlined.
According to the president, the Albanian diaspora and the Arberesh community in Italy also serve as an important communication bridge between the two countries.
In his first visit to Albania, Di Maio visited the camp set up in Vora for earthquake-affected people, where he said Italy would help rebuild Albania. He expressed the readiness to have the support of all EU countries at the donors’ conference in February, where he said hopes to be held in Tirana. There, Di Maio signed the donation of Italian disaster management materials for disaster management in Albania.
The Italian minister said that the most important thing is that all countries show their proximity to Albania to help overcome the earthquake disaster.
Di Maio did not neglect the political situation in Albania, calling for all parties to engage in restoring a climate of dialogue so as not to compromise the country’s path to European integration.
“All political actors should be further engaged in restoring such a political climate so as not to compromise the path of European integration and enable it to exploit the country’s growing potentials, favoring a reduction in tensions and opening up channels of confrontation and dialogue,” Di Maio said.
