The Minister of Defence, Mrs. Mimi Kodheli, met today the Minister of Defence of the Republic of Italy, Ms. Roberta Pinotti, who is in our country for a one-day official visit. The official visit of Ms. Pinotti to Albania takes place in the framework of the bilateral cooperation plan with the Republic of Italy.
After the welcome with the Guard of Honour, accompanied by the Wind Orchestra of the Armed Forces, both defence ministers held a tête-à-tête meeting, later, it was held the meeting between the two delegations, led respectively by Minister Kodheli and Minister Pinotti.
The Defence Minister of Italy, Ms. Roberta Pinotti also held a meeting with the Albanian military personnel trained and educated in the academies and higher military schools of the Republic of Italy.
Later, both defence ministers gave a press statement.
Defence Minister Kodheli in her statement said:
I have the pleasure to welcome the Minister of Defence of Italy, Senator Roberta Pinotti, my good friend and of our country. Italy, all the time, as a strategic ally of Albania, has unreservedly supported the integration processes of our country. I am convinced that this support will continue in the future, not only for the fact that Italy is a strategic partner of Albania, but also due to some recent developments such as, the election of Ms. Mogherini as high representative for EU Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, another friend of our country.
The meeting with Minister Pinotti is held immediately after the important decisions taken at the Wales Summit, decisions that have a special significance for the situation across the world, in relation to the security not only of Albania, of the region, but in relation to the Europe security, and obviously of all those regions that face today a wide variety of crises, from the crisis in Ukraine, to the unresolved problems in Afghanistan, and certainly to the extremely tense situations in the Middle East or even in some other countries south or southeast of Europe. We discussed about our common NATO mission in Afghanistan, post-ISAF or Resolute Support mission, we discussed about the NATO Readiness Action Plan, as well as about a joint exercise including some ally countries in the framework of the NATO Alliance, “Trident Juncture 2015”.
Together with Minister Pinotti, we discussed current issues of mutual interest to our two countries. We talked about Defence cooperation, in particular: on the “Concept of grouping of countries”, the so-called “Framework Nations Concept”, which is a concept that will continue to evolve, which is a grouping under the guidance of Italy that has a purpose, increasing the Defence capabilities, and Albania has accepted to be only observer of this grouping, but soon it will assess the capabilities of the Albanian Armed Forces to become part of it; we focused on the integrated surveillance of maritime space; shared commitments to missions and exercises in the future; and on an issue significant to me, and obviously we found the support of Italy and Minister Pinotti, such as the education of Albanian officers in military academies of Italy.
I expressed gratitude to Minister Pinotti for the continuous sustain the friendly country, Italy, has given to Albania, the Italian Armed Forces have shown to the Armed Forces of Albania, not only as Armed Forces of two NATO member countries, but also as Armed Forces of two friendly countries.
Once again, allow me on your behalf to thank Senator Pinotti for the visit and her support!
While the Defence Minister of Italy Pinotti said:
The first confirmation I would like to express is that personal friendship further strengthens this friendly relationship Italy has with Albania. When I arrived, the Minister of Defence of Albania presented me with the Albanian officers educated at the Italian military academies. She really made me a nice and very important gift, in relation to the fact that one of the ideas or proposals that I outlined to Defence Minister Kodheli today is that, this education should not be casual, but it should be part of a project that will continue further in time, to the joint education of our militaries. We have operated with Albania alongside each other in various international operations and we hope to do so in the future, specifically, interaction in international or joint operations, or the joint education of our militaries at the military academies constitutes not only a friendly relationship of two friendly countries, but I would also say of two sister countries.
I also welcomed the Albania’s proposal to be an observer in the operation “Nations Framework”, and it will see further the opportunity to become a member and act directly in the framework of this project. With regard to maritime safety, we have opened direct channels of communication and I believe that this process will be further strengthened in the future.
We also tackled various issues related to the risks the world faces today. Italy has praised Albania’s supportive stance in the framework of NATO. We must tackle with attention those problems that are currently occurring, to resolve the Ukraine crisis, but we also have to deal with attention the problems that are occurring in South Africa and Middle East. I had the opportunity to cordially thank Albania for the fact that it has made available ammunition in the fight against ISIS and this is a very important path that Albania has undertaken in the international plan. Albania plays an important role in terms of sustainability, stability and peace in the region and of course this also based on Albania’s relations with neighbouring countries in the region and beyond. Albania follows closely security issues in the world and participates vigorously in these actions and international operations responding to the needs or demands in the international plan. This whole path or interactions that Albania has undertaken are followed with great attention by the international community and in particular from European community, and they all will serve and will be for the benefit of its European path, a path which Italy has strongly supported and supports.
