During his speech, Blinken spoke about a number of issues, including the Justice Reform, which he said has been a difficult process that is now yielding results.
Blinken also said that with the Justice Reform, many members of organized crime are facing court proceedings.
“The Prime Minister is an exceptional partner of the USA. This partnership between our two countries is stronger than it has ever been. We are doing things with each other and for each other, so that the Albanian people also benefit. While Albania has been a temporary member of the UNSC, we have talked about important things. For Ukraine, which has faced the attack of Russia.
We had the opportunity today to discuss many issues that we face. We discussed advancing the security we share together. Albania was among the first countries that helped Ukraine and is currently one of the top 10 countries that help Ukraine, in relation to per capita income. During 15 years in NATO, Albania has made a special contribution to NATO.
Next month, Albania will inaugurate the NATO air base in Kuçovo. In the last year, each ally has increased the percentage in the field of defense, to 2%. We are grateful that Albania has done its part. Albania and the USA have also fought alongside each other. In the wake of Iran’s cyberattacks, the U.S. has helped train experts on the equipment to better prepare for future attacks. Albania has hosted thousands of Afghan refugees. It was the first country in the world to do so.
Today I had the opportunity to meet some of the Afghans who have been evacuated, those who are about to cross over to the USA. We are really inspired by the way you have done this. The reform of Justice in Albania was not simple and quick, but today we are seeing results. Members of organized crime are ending up in court proceedings. Our democracies both face misinformation and this leads to the erosion of trust, and we have adopted the memorandum of trust,” said Blinken.
During the conference held this Thursday, Prime Minister Edi Rama thanked the Secretary of State Antony Blinken for the support of the USA regarding the reform in justice. Prime Minister Rama said that this support has made it possible for Albanians to regain their faith that everyone can be equal before the law.
“I want to publicly thank the Secretary of State, for the irreplaceable support for the transformation of Albania from a country that has never had justice and where the culture of impunity was the standard, which made citizens believe that in Albania it would never be possible to that the law was equal for all and that no one was above the law.
They enabled us to see today that even in Albania, as in any ambitious country, it is possible for people in power, connected to the existing executive power, to be called before the law for violating it. This is something the weight of which Albania will be able to conceive many years later. We know that when we launched the justice reform and received support from our allies, all polls and questions related to this reform found massive support.
The left and the right supported the justice reform. We have problems here to find a consensus even to say what time it is, but to the question of whether those who supported the justice reform believed that they would see people in power before the justice, most answered no. This is where we are today, the myth of the powerful above the law has fallen”, said Rama.
