TIRANA, April 10 – Top Albanian and Czech officials said last week the two countries have put the CEZ dispute behind them and are looking forward to a new climate of cooperation.
Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati made a visit to Prague last week in what seemed to be an effort to repair some of the damage in relations following the expulsion of a Czech-owned power corporation two years ago.
Both sides said they had left behind the dispute between the Czech state-controlled power firm CEZ and Albania.
A solution helped boost the two countries’ future economic cooperation, said Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek, after a meeting with Bushati last Friday.
In 2013, Albania stripped the distributor of the license and CEZ started an international arbitration case against Tirana.
Prague had threatened to block the granting of the EU candidate country status to Albania over the dispute.
The two sides eventually agreed on a settlement and Albania became an EU membership candidate country in June 2014.
“I praised the role of the government of [Albanian Prime Minister] Edi Rama that helped us definitively resolve the problem,” Zaoralek said. “The quality of relations is proved when there is a problem that needs to be solved. This government has proved it is capable of this and that it cares about bilateral relations between our countries.”
Both Tirana and Prague consider the CEZ-Albania dispute closed, said the Albanian foreign minister.
“We share the Czech government’s view that it is time to look ahead and to revive our economic cooperation in the fields where we see the biggest potential,” Bushati said, adding that his country offered big opportunities in energy industry and tourism.
Zaoralek and Bushati signed a memorandum of cooperation in European integration and a legal statement on the protection of the cultural heritage.
Zaoralek also praised cooperation with Albania in NATO and the stance Albania has taken on the Ukraine crisis.
Bushati said Rama might visit the Czech Republic at the end of the year.
Bushati also met Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka and Chamber of Deputies chairman Jan Hamacek.
