TIRANA, Feb. 9 – Albania’s Minister of Defense Mimi Kodheli has pledged that the country is committed to properly deal with the flow of illegal migrants and refugees.
Kodheli attended a meeting of the Ministers of Defense of members of the Central European Defence Cooperation (CEDC) initiative and the Western Balkan partner countries in Vienna, Austria.
“Illegal migration is increasingly becoming part of our agenda and will remain a challenge in the future,” she said.
“Albania is part of NATO’s patrolling mission in the Aegean Sea and is collaborating with EU Operation Sophia, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency, (FRONTEX), Greece and Turkey to help in the efforts to prevent the migrants and refugee crisis,” she added.
According to Kodheli, authorities have intensified efforts to set up a NATO based regional center in the country which will study and address the issue of foreign terrorist fighters reaching European shores.
Since the beginning of the conflict in Syria, Albania braced the possibility of thousands of refugees stranded in neighboring Greece seeking an alternative route to reach northern Europe.
The government announced that doesn’t plan to erect barriers to keep migrants out, but so far Albania has been crossed by small groups of refugees.
