Wednesday, Acting Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs Gent Cakaj met the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland Pekka Haavisto, who is on an official visit to Albania. Finland is the country, which is actually holding the rotating Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Hence, discussions primarily turned on the need to make sure that the EU starts negotiations with Albania in October.

‘Finland favours a positive decision for Albania in October, and is directly engaged with the Member States so as to talk them into doing the same thing. As well as political support, Finland has provided considerable technical support in order to help Albania with the fulfilment of obligations under Chapter 12 (Food safety, veterinary, and phytosanitary policy) of the acquis communautaire,’ Cakaj writes in a post on the social media.

Another topic of discussion revolved around further advance of trade cooperation between the two countries, and the need for added cooperation in education and tourism, and the importance of increased political and diplomatic interaction between Albania and Finland.

During the meeting, Cakaj and Haavisto also dwelt on the process for the liberalisation of visas for Kosovo, and both Ministers also underlined the need for such process to be handled so that the Kosovo citizens move freely like all the citizens of the countries from across the region.

Once again Acting Minister Cakaj underlines that the Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs and the Government of Albania, overall, are politically and diplomatically committed to ensuring the Member States’ support for the start of negotiations in October.