Albania received the support of the United States in its bid to join the European Union, during a state visit by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who also praised the role of the country in the Balkan region and its recent stint as non-permanent member of the United Nations Security Council.
During a news conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, Blinken said that “we can’t have a repeat of what we saw and what too many people experienced in the 1990s, which is why we’re committed to supporting all of the efforts to advance the integration of countries in the Western Balkans with each other and with Europe.”
The US has been strongly in favour of integration of Albania and other Western Balkan countries inside of the EU. “The EU facilitated dialogue is the right, in fact, I think the only path forward,” Blinken said on the topic.
Rama added that the two discussed also about Kosovo and Serbia. Both countries are still facing bursts of tension over several issues, most recently on Kosovo’s ban on dinar-led transaction in Serb-majority municipalities.
During the press conference, Blinken also took time to publicly thank Albania in the support of Afghan refugees after the Taliban seized power in August 2001, following US and NATO withdrew. Albania took on around 3,200 Afghans on their way to the US. Some still live in Albania as their US refugee’ applications are processed. Blinken met with them during his visit.
“The United States is committed to supporting Albania on its path to EU accession and in fighting corruption and organized crime. Prime Minister @EdiRama and I discussed our cooperation to advance regional stability, cyber defense, and judicial reform,” posted Blinken on X.
