Acting Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Gent Cakaj during his visit to the United States, in the framework of the Global Coalition Against ISIS, held a series of meetings with senior representatives of the US Administration, Congress and Senate, as well as his counterparts Minister of Foreign Affairs of some European countries.

During meetings with the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee at the American Congress, Eliot Engel, Deputy Assistant Secretary Mathew Palmer, Senator Gary Peters, High Representative of the Atlantic Council, and MoFA of Poland, Germany, Holland, Canada, Lithuania, Turkey and Sweden, the talks focused on issues of European integration, cooperation within NATO, the upcoming OSCE Chairmanship and regional cooperation processes.

US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Mathew Palmer congratulated Minister Cakaj for his new assignment, praised Albania’s contribution to the Global Coalition Against ISIS, Albania’s NATO engagement, as well as our country’s constructive contribution to the Western Balkans for advancing the European agenda. He stressed that Albania remains a valued and important ally of the United States.

Mr. Palmer congratulated Mr. Cakaj for the upcoming OSCE Chairmanship in Albania in 2020 and assured him of US support during that.

Acting Minister Cakaj praised the fruitful cooperation and valuable assistance that the US has given to Albania, both in domestic reforms, especially in the justice sector, and in the regional, European and wider agenda. Mr. Cakaj introduced Mr. Palmer a panorama of the steps taken by Albania in the framework of the expectations for opening negotiations with the EU in June this year, as well as the dynamics of regional cooperations, in bilateral and multilateral formats.

At the meeting with the Chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee at the US Congress, Eliot Engel, was underlined the importance of US support for the steps taken by Albania in terms of reforms, as well as our country’s contribution to regional co-operation. For his part, Congressman Engel expressed US support in the framework of strategic partnership and policy reconciliation on security issues in the international arena.

At the meeting with US Senator Gary Peters, Co-Chairman of the Albanian Caucus, Acting Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Gent Cakaj, expressed gratitude for the support and contribution that this platform has provided in support of Albania and Albanians.

Acting Minister Cakaj held an extended discussion with Senator Peters on Albania’s current and future challenges, focusing mainly on domestic reforms, recent developments in the region and expectations in the framework of Albania’s integration processes in EU.

In his last meeting, Acting Minister Cakaj met with the Vice President for Europe of the Atlantic Council, Damion Wilson, with whom exchanged opinions on the current EU situation, Albania’s challenges and expectations for opening negotiations in June, relations among Western Balkans Region countries and the role of Albania in this context. Also, Minister Cakaj and Mr. Wilson discussed Albania’s NATO contributions and the possibility of organizing this year’s joint activities, as 2019 marks the 10th anniversary of Albania’s NATO membership.