Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Olta Xhaçka, welcomed the Minister of Foreign and European Affairs of Slovakia, Ivan Korčok.
Minister Xhaçka praised Slovakia for the continuous support it has given to Albania’s integration processes. According to her, the opening of negotiations would be a well-deserved evaluation of Albania.
“I shared with my colleague our satisfaction for the assessment made for Albania by the Economist Intelligence Unit’s 2020 Democracy Index, by removing it from the list of hybrid regimes and classifying it as a flawed democracy. This is good news that comes after the modernization and Europeanization reforms we have taken. This is also a development that shows what transformative power the European integration objective has for the region and how important it is for this objective to become tangible and achievable and not to fall victim of domestic policies and subjective assessments”, said Minister Xhacka in the joint press statement.
She also urged her Slovak counterpart to consider allowing a Liaison Office of the Republic of Kosovo in Bratislava. According to Minister Xhaçka, this would serve as an indicator of goodwill and support for such a difficult dialogue process between Kosovo and Serbia.
Regarding the Kosovo issue, Minister Korčok stated that the Kosovo-Pristina dialogue is being closely followed. “Mr. Lajcak is doing everything to reach the right solution,” he stated.
In his remarks, Minister Korčok focused on the interest that Slovakia is paying to the issue of integration of the Western Balkans into the EU. “I want to congratulate you on your remarkable progress. I hope that both Albania and North Macedonia will achieve the green light for the holding of the First Intergovernmental Conference during the Portuguese Presidency”, he said.
Minister Xhaçka thanked the Slovak government for the donation of 30,000 euros for one of the Covid hospitals in Albania, as a sign of solidarity in the fight against the global pandemic. The donation was handed to Minister Xhacka during the visit of the Slovak Minister for Foreign and European Affairs.
