The Western Balkans should no longer deal with the past, but countries should strengthen cooperation at a time when the future is so threatening. Rama and Kovacevski shared the same views said that this strengthening of cooperation has grown even further through the Open Balkans and the Berlin Process.

While Rama said that the agreements of the Berlin Process were made earlier by the Open Balkans, he added that this initiative is exactly complementary and that it should not be seen as a threat. In the same line was the counterpart Kovacevski, who said that 30 years ago in the region the sound of the gun could be heard, today it is the sound of friendship

These statements were made during the joint press conference between Prime Minister Edi Rama and the Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski after the meeting of the governments of the two countries in Skopje.

“We are rushing to compensate the gap between our hydro capacities in relation to the needs, to create new capacities with new solar energy, hydro through Skavica and liquid gas, where we have a number of partnerships. We are convinced that more and more unity makes power and the Balkans have no reason to deal with the past while the future is threatening if we are not prepared for it. We are preparing another summit of the Open Balkans in Albania and we are pleased that other countries will join us”, said Rama.

Prime Minister Rama emphasized that both countries have moved forward, but there is still much to be done to increase the volume of cooperation both in moving forward with integration and in the field of energy and infrastructure.

“The construction of a Dry Port in Struga, the Skopje-Durres railway, a new border point, the three most strategically important. The preliminary project of the Dry Port will be undertaken by the Albanian government within the framework of the agreement it has with the Dutch company that has designed the new commercial port combined with the military area of ​​Durrës and the Dry Port of Pristina. Thus we believe that we created a complex infrastructure in order to increase the volume of interaction between our countries and it has been the primary goal of the Open Balkans initiative and the Berlin Process. We have the potential to further boost relations between the two countries. We are today for the first time as countries negotiating EU membership after a long period. We joined together in a pain of love for Europe and Europe’s indifference towards us. Today we are in a new phase, not easy, but which has affirmed that our country is in the EU family and this affirmation has come thanks to our work and results and our determination to join the EU’, said Rama

The Prime Minister of North Macedonia, Dimitar Kovacevski, said that the two countries will be together in facing the challenges facing Europe and that this is an indicator of healthy relations between them.

/k.s/