Thaci in Vlora: We are a nation in two sovereign states that we dream of having Euro-Atlantic integration

Kosovo President Hashim Thaci has attended the 28th marking ceremony today. November that was organised in Vlora.

The president has stressed that Flag Day is the holiday of national pride and has congratulated all Albanians in Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, the Presevo Valley of Montenegro and wherever they live outside their lands.

“28 November is the holiday of restoring dignity and strengthening our national conscience”, the president said, adding that this day marks the moment of separation from the long captivity and the beginning of the era of modernisation of our nation.

It was the National Renaissance, the ongoing uprisings against the fragmentation of Albanian lands from the Albanian League of Prizren to the 1908-12 uprisings, according to President Thaci, who led to the moment of the Declaration of Independence on November 28, 1912.

On this day we cannot recall all those patriots, visionary states, men and women, who centuries after generation contributed to the announcement of Independence”, he said.

President Thaci has linked Albania's 105th anniversary of independence to the 10th anniversary of Kosovo's independence and the inauguration of the nationwide year of Kastriot quite Skenderbeu.

Nearly a century after the establishment of the Albanian state, he has said that Kosovo was finally freed from continued efforts that were crowned with the fair war of the Kosovo Liberation Army, which found support from the democratic world -- from the United States of America, the European Union and NATO.

The president has said that never before have Albanians been in better historical, current and actual positions.

“Albania is a member of the most powerful military organisation in the world, NATO. Kosovo is a free and sovereign state. We are one nation in two sovereign states. Both our countries have a dream. They have a purpose. Integration into Euro-Atlantic institutions”, he has stressed.

President Thaci has said that with this clear philosophy and orientation towards Western democratic values, Kosovo and Albania today develop bilateral economic, cultural and political relations as never before.

“Day, governments of our two states held joint meetings in Korca. Today, we celebrate together in Vlora. Both of our countries give clear messages that we are committed to peace, stability and prosperity in the region, he added.

The head of state has said Vlora has united Albanians of all lands, until Kosovo's name of the city of Vlora emerges beyond the historical meaning.

The “Vlora's name, but also of other cities in Albania, parents in Kosovo assigned the girls the name as a sign of national identity and love of native country”, he has said.

President Thaci has said that Kosovo -- today and forever -- will nurture and cultivate love towards Albania, through institutional road, cultural integrations, freedom of movement and deepening co-operation.