The acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, arrived in Tirana for a three-day visit where she is expected to meet with top state officials.
Her first stop was at the memorial of Albania’s national hero Gjergj Kastrioti Skënderbe in Lezha and then travelled to Tirana where she greeted by a state ceremony by President Ilir Meta.
During their joint press conference, President Meta said that Kosovo and Albania are focused on their European path.
“We evaluated all the opportunities that would make bilateral cooperation more feasible, in order to be exemplary in the face of democratic standards, but at the same time for the integration of the region in the EU”, said the Albanian president.
Amid calls for increased cooperation between the two countries, Meta said that it is necessary to create new opportunities for scientific, cultural and business exchanges.
“Good interstate relations need to generate practical opportunities, in order to render our borders not only invisible, but also to bring our citizens, artists, businessman, athletes, intellectuals and the community of science closer for them to exchange knowledge, experience and culture, and I believe that this will improve in the future”, Meta added.
The Albanian head of state said that he is firm in his stance to defend the integrity and independence of the state of Kosovo.
“I assured President Osmani that we will use all our energies to support the independence, sovereignty, and integrity of the Republic of Kosovo because we’re convinced on its international legitimacy”.
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cite_header= I assured President Osmani that we will use all our energies to support the independence sovereignty and integrity of the Republic of Kosovo because we’re convinced on its international legitimacy
cite_author=Ilir Meta
cite_description=President of the Republic of Albania
]
The acting President of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, commended the role of Meta in opposing the idea to exchange territories with Serbia and publicly called on the Parliament to adopt a resolution to denounce crimes committed by Serbs and recognize Serbian genocide on the Albanians of Kosovo.
“We talked about several topics with the President, which I will be discussing in my upcoming meetings also. The first one is about asking the Albanian Assembly to adopt the resolution condemning Serbian genocide in Kosovo. Our Parliament has already ratified the resolution, and it is completely natural that we expect that the second state to follow suit would be Albania”, Osmani stated.
The head of state, Ilir Meta, said that he is glad that Osmani is visiting Albania.
“It is my pleasure to receive the acting President of the Republic of Kosovo, Vjosa Osmani, as well as the official delegation with a full honors welcome ceremony”, wrote Meta on Twitter.
Osmani said during a speech at the country’s national hero memorial that his figure “must serve as a model of unity in troubled times, as those we are living today”.
“He did what we have to do today more than ever. Apart from being a watchdog of Western values, he was a model of unity. He was once a defender of the values of civilizations, which is today aimed by both Kosovo and Albania”, Osmani said.
Euronews Albania journalist, Renaldo Salianji, asked Osmani whether she intends to invite political leaders at the roundtable of discussion in order to choose the next president.
“Naturally, I feel an obligation to invite political leaders to discuss on matters that are of an imminent interest to citizens, and those are: firstly, the pandemic, economic issues and Kosovo-Serbia dialogue. However, choosing the president is a matter that falls under the sphere of political parties and our Constitution stipulates that the figure of the president represents the unity of the people and not necessarily tied to political parties”.
“As I said earlier, not choosing a president does not lead to a catastrophe but to elections, which bring more democracy, hence as acting president I believe it would be a grave mistake to interfere in any type of discussion whatsoever, which several political parties are doing today. But on the contrary, my duty is to guarantee the stability of the Presidency and discuss with other actors the management of the pandemic and realign our position against Serbia. These are priorities”, said Osmani.
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