- Title: Albania's Rama hopes for CEFTA trade agreement at Western Balkans Conference
- Date: 13th October 2024
- Summary: BERLIN, GERMANY (OCTOBER 13, 2024) (REUTERS) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA ARRIVES AND GREETS JOURNALISTS ALBANIAN FLAG (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT WESTERN BALKANS CONFERENCE, SAYING: "It's not about one point. It's about pushing forward the agenda of cooperation. The Four Freedoms of Europe, meaning Freedom of Movement of People, Goods, Services and Capitals are the core of this. Because Angela's (Merkel) vision was that while we have to get individually towards the European Union and to become member states in a merit based process, we have also to cooperate and to create in this area the same conditions that we would like and we will get in Europe and also for the European Union to be much more, much more involved in that and to not let these integration process be just a one to one thing." RAMA LISTENING TO QUESTION (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT CEFTA TRADE AGREEMENT, SAYING: "So tomorrow will be important to come back and to fix the CEFTA mechanism, about which there were some controversies in the last month, but apparently they are overcome now. So this is the good beneficial part of the brilliant process in kind of keeping all of us on track." RAMA TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT ALBANIA'S EU ASCENSION, SAYING: "So for all the stars to be aligned, it would be needed a lot. But the possibility is now more than ever. So our aim anyhow, is to make Albania become a member state like country in terms of doing all the homework, including all the institution building reforms, fulfil all the criterias and the standards within the 2030." RAMA'S HANDS (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT MIGRATION, SAYING: "It's a phenomenon that Europe will have to deal with and better sooner than later Europe has to find a common ground of that. There is a lot of divisiveness. There is a lot of disputes, there's a lot of ideology and a lot of petty talk that is even fuelling the cultural war, which is devastating, in my view, for the future of Europe about something that is so big and that Europe has to tackle as one." JOURNALIST LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT MIGRATION, SAYING: "What I miss in all of this is will and the direction and strategic direction of all the EU countries together. You know, to really have a common policy and to really have a common strategy and a common plan and not let this issue become a daily issue of fuelling the fear in every country to get more votes, of scaring people about the foreigners, of opening divisions between white and black and Muslims and Christians, which are not said so explicitly, but are in the underground and are really, really very damaging for Europe." (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT A SIMILAR DEAL AS THE ITALIAN-ALBANIAN REFUGEE DEAL FOR GERMANY, SAYING: "Germany has to find the other partner, because Albania has ties with Italy and Albania cannot do it with everyone while others can be involved. And if Germany finds another partner in the region would be nice to see if this works in the same way. Because again I'm repeating is the geography. So what will happen with these refugees or asylum seekers or whatever, is that they will not stop at the shore of Italy, but they continue stop at the shore of Albania. But if it's well organised between the European Union and the Balkans, and by understanding again that the Balkans are a really very strategic, very important in that it can become something completely different." RAMA TALKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT HIS PLANS TO RUN AGAIN, SAYING: "The plan is to run. But, you know, it's still some time to go there. So I believe I have to run because there is work to finish. And in these three mandates, we have done amazing things. Albania was not in the map. Albania was just the bad news when it was news. And now we are we overcome the ceiling of 10 million tourists in a country where tourism was a good idea and the dream, but was not the reality. We have the fastest growing airports, international airport, in Europe. We are having a lot of investments and foreign investments and good situation with the as you mentioned in the beginning with the integration process. But this does not mean that Albania has not problems with corruption, has no problems with with other with other things to be dealt with in every sector." BOOK "TIRANA FROM THE AIR" (SOUNDBITE) (English) ALBANIAN PRIME MINISTER EDI RAMA, ABOUT HIS PLANS TO RUN AGAIN, SAYING: "Then there is there is this phase of fighting corruption that has to become irreversible. So with the potential aim of of seeing ourselves raising the flag in Brussels within this decade. So it's worth running for another term the people will decide." RAMA TALKING WITH PAN TO BOOKS
- Embargoed: 27th October 2024 16:31
- Keywords: CEFTA EU Accension albania edi rama western balkans
- Location: BERLIN, GERMANY
- City: BERLIN, GERMANY
- Country: Germany
- Topics: Diplomacy/Foreign Policy,Europe,Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA001147413102024RP1
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama said in an interview with Reuters on Sunday (October 13) that he hoped the Western Balkan Conference would agree on the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA).
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz is welcoming the leader of six Western Balkan countries to the conference on Monday (October 14) in Berlin.
"It's not about one point. It's about pushing forward the agenda of cooperation," Rama said. "So tomorrow will be important to come back and to fix the CEFTA mechanism, about which there were some controversies in the last month, but apparently they are overcome now."
German foreign minister Annalena Baerbock said on Wednesday (October 9) that there was a breakthrough in negotiations about the trade agreement which is seen as a step towards European Union Membership.
Rama furthermore said he hoped Albania would be ready to join the EU in 2030. Albania applied for EU membership in 2009 and has been an official candidate since 2014.
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