The Ministry of Finance and Economy organized on Tuesday in Tirana the Forum of Ministers of Economy entitled “The common regional market – a step towards the EU single market”, within the framework of the Berlin process, which will take place in Albania on October 16. 2023.
In his speech at this ministerial meeting, Prime Minister Edi Rama said that now is the time to think outside the box.
Furthermore, the head of the Albanian government emphasized that today the EU needs the Western Balkans as much as the Western Balkans need the EU.
“I would like to remind you that this process began under the auspices of Chancellor Merkel in 2014, when, for the first time in history, the leaders of the entire Western Balkans gathered around a table to talk about the future of their countries.
As Chancellor Merkel said in 2014, when this process was launched, a strong and healthy tree grew. We are already seeking the fruit because the tree is ripe enough to give us the fruit.
Now is the time to think outside the box and that is exactly what we seek to do with this summit and what I sense in the conversations and communications with our friends in the EU,” Rama said.
He further stressed that the Berlin summit will have to discuss something completely new, unimaginable five years ago, namely the future EU support plan for the Western Balkans.
“Yesterday I had the pleasure of having a very exhaustive conversation with our friend from the French government and I must say that it was a conversation that would have been impossible to have 5 years ago. Things have changed and we we see with great interest that Within the EU, the conviction is much stronger and they are more open about the importance of the Western Balkans for the EU.
Today, the EU needs the Western Balkans as much as the Western Balkans need the EU. We are here with ministers and prominent officials from the BP countries and the EU to discuss the most essential topics of this process, which includes strengthening our economies, including connecting with the EU economic sphere .
The summit will have to discuss something completely new which was unimaginable 5 years ago, the future EU plan to support the Western Balkans by opening up in several ways that will bring us closer to the EU, while Regarding the merit-based integration process, each country must fulfill its own tasks. Gradual integration into the common market promises to give us an invaluable insight into the economic growth of the Western Balkans over the next ten years. It is time to move forward together and ensure that promising words lead to promising actions.
We may still have unresolved issues in this region, but through this process we have learned that the only way to get along is to agree as much as possible on the things we can do together.
We are seeing more and more how important it is to tackle our problems. The better the atmosphere of cooperation, the stronger the bridges between our countries, the greater the space to address even the most difficult issues,” Prime Minister Rama said.
