New York, September 22/-Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama delivered a speech on Friday to the 72nd session of General Assembly of the UNO which is holding its proceedings in New York. The head of government stated that EU membership is the priority of the government of Albania.“Integration affects every cell of our architecture of development. It is our ability to implement the necessary reforms which will enable this process. The justice reform, which is under implementation, is the key element”, said PM Rama. He added that Albania expects that the European partners open doors to membership negotiations.
“We expect that the EU, irrespective of the current crisis, maintains enlargement a priority. Albania needs the EU as much as the EU needs a more developed and sustainable Balkans”, emphasized the prime minister.
Likewise, PM Rama appreciated necessary that the internationals treat equally all factors of the Balkans region, Kosovo included, which according to him needs to become a member in the international institutions.
“We believe that Kosovo admission into every regional institution with equal rights like the other countries is of substantial significance. There have been people who have made use of this rostrum to express their concern and fear that Kosovo Independence will release some dark forces that no one will be able to control. We have seen nothing of this, quite the contrary, what has really happened is that Kosovars in Kosovo and in Albania and the Serbs, once under threat of extermination by a brutal regime, now are free to live in a democratic country. No one can deny the impressive achievements of Kosovo under less than a decade of independence. Kosovo has consolidated its institutions, good governance, multi-ethnic and inter-religious co-existence and it has made a notable progress in the process of Euro-Atlantic integration. Therefore, we believe that Kosovo membership into the international bodies will serve to stability. Many people have used this rostrum to predict that Kosovo independence will give rise to dark forces. Nothing happened. At present, the Western Balkans is better than 7 or 10 years ago. Kosovo Independence brought about stability”, stated PM Rama.
Further on, PM Rama pointed to terrorism and Korean regime as the main threats which the world faces today. And he supported the U.S. initiative for reform of the UNO.
The prime minister emphasized that mankind faces today many concrete challenges like never before. The armed conflicts today are more complex, the weapons more sophisticated and the human suffering is increased. While millions of people have been displaced. The disasters are more frequent and people have to adapt their lives to protect the globe.
The prime minister said that at present global terrorism is threatening the values of the world.
“The situation in Asia, the escalated crisis from the stubborn policies of a regime, has returned the fear of a terrible nuclear conflict. No country can face alone challenges like these, therefore, a unified reaction is required. The vision and actions should be universal. I reiterate my stance to do our task. The increase of extremism continues to be a challenge that requires urgent solution. IS has lost 90% of its territory, but we should continue to give our response”, said the prime minister. While highlighting Albania’s position in the coalition against the IS, PM Rama said that, “Albania is one of the first countries in the coalition against the IS. We are currently implementing a plan on building action capacity. We evaluate highly cooperation between UNO and EU in the policy of defence. People want to be free from fear and violence”.
Speaking about Albania’s gender equality situation, PM Rama said that Albania is devoted to protection of women’s rights and for the first time in Albania we have a government cabinet of fifty-fifty representation of men and women.” EU integration is Albania’s priority, said he, while emphasizing that, “We are aware of the fact that our commitment to implement the reforms will determine the time in the EU decision of opening the membership negotiations”.