Minister Kodheli pays an official visit in Austria

: Published: Saturday, 08 April 2017 12:13

Defence Minister Mrs. Kodheli paid an official visit in Austria at the invitation of Federal Minister of Defence and Sports of Austria, Mr. Hans Peter Doskozil.

Minister Kodheli was pleased to visit in Vienna and expressed her gratitude for the support that Austria has historically provided to our country since the declaration of independence, to the European integration process.

The focus of the meeting between the two ministers was cooperation in the field of defence, to this end they signed Bilateral Cooperation Plan in the field of defence between Albania and Austria for 2017, which foresees the strengthening of bilateral cooperation in training and education.

Minister Kodheli considered Austria as a special partner of NATO, and thanked her counterpart, Mr. Doskozil for the role of his country in Kosovo within KFOR mission.

Part of the conversation between two ministers was the security challenges in recent years, like refugee crisis. Referring to this crisis Minister Kodheli said that "Albania is not massively involved in crossing routes of refugees to Central Europe, but we are ready to help. And we are helping." - she said, citing the participation of our country in the NATO operation in the Aegean Sea, in order to prevent illegal migration flows, with the vessel "Oriku", which no later than yesterday conducted an operation to stop a boat with 60 people on board.”

After the tête-à-tête meeting of two ministers there was a meeting of the two delegations. Following this the two ministers responded to media interest, not only on security issues in the Balkans region but also beyond this area.

Minister Kodheli condemned what she called "provocations on the borders of an independent state as the Republic of Kosovo", emphasizing Albania's stance on this issue, as a NATO member country.

Being asked about the latest developments regarding the crisis in Syria, Minister Kodheli strongly condemned the use of chemical weapons, which as she said, "are a concern for everyone, no matter where they are used as they are strictly prohibited by all United Nations conventions."

During her visit in Vienna, Minister Kodheli was received by the Secretary General of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, OSCE, Mr. Lamberto Zannier. During this meeting they discussed about the current political events in our country.