Friends,
The appointment to the post of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the Confederation of Switzerland and the Principality of Liechtenstein constitutes a special moment in my life, and this is not simply because my life has taken an almost unbelievable turn with this, but because for the first time I will have to serve the country differently, with a new motivation and energy, as a civil servant. I am in front of a challenge that excites me like nothing else before, and that has already made me reconsider many things within myself, even the relationship with my country and my compatriots.
This feeling or situation is not only due to the fact that I will have to serve my country as an Ambassador, but also to the fact that I will do so in Switzerland, in this country where the human being has showed/achieved its very best, giving the world an almost perfect model of governance, peace, stability, prosperity and coexistence. There is no nation on this planet that does not have something to learn from Switzerland.
Personally, I was pleasantly surprised by the audacity of some foreign author of the first half of the 19th century to associate the Albania of the time as a country with Swiss potential. The reasons why Albania was seen like a Switzerland of tomorrow are not very clear (Mountains and mountain people? Or maybe even religious diversity?), but this did not prevent some of our activists from making this impossible "comparison" and envision the Albania of the future as a second Switzerland.
Of course, Albania never became Switzerland, but something else beautiful happened: many Albanians, as if they wanted to give credence to the vision of the activists of the national awakening, about which I just spoke, have now made Switzerland a second homeland. Thousands of Kosovo Albanians have been living here for generations. Some of them are integrated, while others are trying to achieve the same thing. They should be encouraged in this integration process, but at the same time, in an effort to preserve and strengthen their ties with their country of origin and identity, they should know that the door of the Albanian Embassy will always be open to them, just as it will be for al those that have a passport from the Republic of Albania. The Embassy of Albania in Bern will always be at the service of the latter and at the disposal of the former. Not only because it is our duty, but also because the Albanians of Switzerland are a basis, even a guarantee, for the strengthening of relations between our countries.
These relations, it is known, are impeccable, but strengthening them will be a priority in my diplomatic activity. And this focus has nothing to do with any predisposition of mine. On the contrary, it constitutes the goal and foundation of the work of every Ambassador.
Regards!