TIRANA, Oct. 1 – Prime Minister Edi Rama has been on a week-long visit to New York where he is taking part at the annual session of the United Nations and also in different international meetings held on its sidelines.
He also used the opportunity to meet with several counterparts and to promote Albania’s values as a peaceful country, living in religious harmony, promoting the fight against gender discrimination and also promoting it as a good tourist attraction and business investment opportunity.
The premier also tried to promote the Balkans as a region now living in peace and harmony among nations but which should be more in the focus of the world and especially the European Union.
Rama took part at a high-level meeting, Social Harmony for Sustainable Development, saying that the terrorist threat needed a shared resolve without giving up democratic values.
“Promoting understanding and respect in times of intolerance” was also an initiative launched by Albania during the Rama visit. The idea was also supported in a joint meeting by Jordan and the Vatican.
Albania is a model of peaceful coexistence of religious brotherhood and that history has shown that it has always known to respect differences in religion, Albanian officials told the meeting.
Rama also took his own family as an example of the peaceful religious coexistence among the Muslim, Catholic and Orthodox communities in Albania. Rama is Catholic and is married to a Muslim woman, he said.
“We will not allow any faith be defined as the opposing term of the other ones. I believe that is an important preventive measure against extremism,” Rama said.
Speaking at the Global Women Leaders Summit reorganized by the Chinese president, Rama also promoted Albania as a country where half of the town hall councils are now made up of women. He also said that seven out of his 19 member cabinet are women too.
– EU integration discussed at UN –
Other Albanian officials, including the foreign minister, were present at the UN annual session, where Tirana also focused on promoting Albania’s integration process in the European Union.
Albanian officials emphasized that Albania’s history proves that there are no obstacles to the development of dialogue and communication — it clearly demonstrates the coexistence in peace and harmony, in an atmosphere of mutual respect and trust.
Tirana also asked for direct bilateral assistance from Malta on the country’s integration into the EU. That was noted in a meeting between Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati and Maltese Prime Minister Joseph Muscat who also discussed potential investment in renewable energy.
Albania requested technical assistance from Malta to help it prepare for its accession to the European Union, a request accepted by Muscat, emphasizing the importance of the independent, democratic institutions in Albania.
Bushati said Albania had much potential for renewable energy production but lacked investment.
