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Speech of MEFA Xhaçka in the reception organized on the occasion of Albania’s mandate in UNSC

Dear guests,

Dear friends,

Excellences…

Thank you for joining us here today. We are honored by your presence on this very special occasion for my country.

For the first time, 66 years after becoming a member of the UN, Albania has the opportunity to sit at the UN Security Council.

66 years is a long time. A very very long time!

And throughout our preparations – while we were selecting the team that would represent us, while we were discussing the priorities of our work in the council, while we were discussing the thousands of details that this mandate entails – we all felt the historical dimension of this.

This is a great responsibility of course. This is a great privilege without a doubt.

But this is just as much a milestone in the history of modern Albania. It shows just how far we have travelled and just how much our country, our people have achieved.

I remember when I first arrived in the States some 25 years ago. My family and I lived in Massachusetts for several years. I studied there.

One of the things that remains with to this day from those first years after my arrival was the sense of uneasiness I felt every time I was asked where I came from.

There were those who had no clue and had never heard of Albania, of course. After all, why would a US kid in Boston know about this tiny country somewhere in the Balkans that had just emerged from Communism, poor and on the verge of collapse with hundreds of thousands fleeing in search of security and a better life in Europe or wherever they could?

But it was even worse when they knew where Albania was and if they had any knowledge of what Albania was like in the early 1990s. Because frankly there was not much to be proud of.

This was not just my experience. This was the experience of thousands of my fellow Albanians who left the ruins of their country during that terrible period in our history.

Fast forward, In August of last year Albania opened its doors to several thousand at risk Afghans – civil society and women’s rights activists, doctors, educators, artists, journalists who had to flee their country in fear for their lives and their families.

I met many of them. They reminded me so much of myself when, to borrow an expression used by the Prime Minister, I was one of the Afghans of Europe, fleeing my country in search of a better life elsewhere.

It was precisely this reflection that made me realize just how far Albania has come. Just how different a country it is today from the country I had to leave behind as a kid.

We have gone through tyranny. Through collapse. We have gone through poverty and conflict. We have seen the region, our brothers and our neighbors devastated by war and destruction.

But Much has changes since then. Albania is now a modern democratic country with the highest representation of women in government. A country with a growing and vibrant economy, about to open formal negotiations with the European Union. It is a pillar of stability in the region and a net exporter of security, playing a crucial role in consolidating peace and cooperation in the Western Balkans. Frankly, there is much to be proud of.

It is with all of these in mind that I say that being in the Security Council is a milestone in the history of modern Albania. That it shows just how far we have travelled and just how much our country, our people, have achieved.

And It is the experience of this process that I think will be the most significant contribution of my country to the Security Council and to addressing some of the most pressing issues of our time. We may differ in land area or population or the size of our economies, but when it comes to principles, to what works and what not, to what is right and what is wrong, size does not matter.

We come to the Council with a sense of realism about what a small country can achieve. But we also come to the Council with optimism that even small countries can make an impact. On issues such as Women Peace and Security or Combating Violent Extremism or Human Rights and International Law or Climate Change and Security or increasing the transparency and efficiency of cooperation between nations in the Security Council.

In this effort, we know that we cannot achieve anything if we go at it alone. The only way to have an impact on any of these issues that trouble the world today, is by working closely together, all likeminded countries. By striving for common ground on what unites us even when there are many areas on which we do not see eye to eye.

We have been overwhelmed over the past year by how many countries have reached out to us with the desire to work together. And that is precisely what we want to do: work together. So that we create synergies and turn our presence in the Security Council into just one segment of a relay race where a country picks up on these issues where its predecessor in the Council left off and hands over the file to those who come to the Council after it, when the term ends.

This is our vision. This is our hope. And we hope that we will have occasion to work together with as many of you as possible for the sake of a better world.

So I thank all for being here today and showing support. We are very grateful for your friendship and partnership.

I would now like to give the floor to the president of the UN general assembly, Abdulla Shahid, whose “Presidency for Hope” has been acting and motivating despite the varies challenges knocking at its door, demanding immediate attention. Albania is happy to work with you. Thank you also for your important and successful initiative “standing for vaccine equity”, a welcome call for more solidarity worldwide.

PGA Shahid, you have the floor!

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