Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Ditmir Bushati, received in a meeting the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, Miro Cerar, in the framework of his official visit to Tirana. Interlocutors reconfirmed friendly relations, traditionally very good and with positive progress over the years between countries. Minister Bushati praised Slovenia’s supportive position for opening negotiations with the EU in June 2019, which comes as a result of reading concrete results in the reforms undertaken by the Albanian government.

Also, Minister Bushati underlined that a proactive and lobbying role of Slovenia, as it was for obtaining candidate status, would be more than welcome for the opening of negotiations in June 2019. Minister Bushati thanked his Slovenian counterpart for supporting of Albania for the OSCE Presidency for 2020 and expressed optimism about the reconciliation of joint actions to secure the position of Albania’s interim member to the UN Security Council for the period 2022-2023.

During the constructive and friendly talks, it was emphasized that the Western Balkans region should have a clear future in the European Union, and that integration and co-operation between these countries remains as important. Also, the interlocutors highlighted the important role of Albania and the Albanian factor in terms of stability, security and peace in the Western Balkans region.

During the conversation, the need for a qualitative increase and new impetus in deepening economic co-operation has been underlined to bring it up to the level of political cooperation. In this context, the two ministers welcomed the Albanian-Slovenian Business Forum, praising the mutual interest and the untapped real potential so far, pointing out that economic cooperation will be a priority for both foreign ministries and economic diplomacy.

Minister Bushati emphasized that the Business Forum is the ultimate testimony of joint engagement and a confirmation of the real potential for increasing trade exchanges, strengthening economic cooperation, and boosting investment. In this context, at the Albanian-Slovenian Business Forum, emphasis was placed on the importance of cooperation in the fields of tourism, energy, environment, agro-processing, pharmaceuticals, infrastructure, etc.