Albania, Kosovo differing positions on possible deployment of embassies in Jerusalem

While later, during a joint conference with Kosovo Prime Minister Hoti, Prime Minister Rama said that Albania is the only country in Europe that has had more Jews after World War II than before and the only place where they found refuge, protection and security so great that no Jews were handed over to the Nazis.

“Albania is the place where Albanians surrendered to the Nazis, presenting themselves as those Jews who had taken home. Albania is the country that has an old historical connection with Israel and a great respect for Israel, but Albania in foreign policy in this respect is completely connected with the EU” ú Rama said.

In 2017, Albania also voted in favour of a resolution of the United Nations Assembly through which it was called on the United States to withdraw from the decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

President Trump thanked Mr. Rama on paper for supporting “the economic normalisation between Serbia and Kosovo and for your strong support of the Abraham Accords, the most significant step towards peace in the Middle East for this generation. I encourage you to join the United States and other European nations in shifting your embassy to Jerusalem” President Trump wrote.

Kosovo Prime Minister Abdullah Hoti, who had a different attitude, commented on the subject.

“As far as embassy in Jerusalem, we are new country, we need recognition. With Washington's agreement, in addition to major economic and infrastructure projects, which completely change the economic conflict in Kosovo and the region, there has also been a recognition, which is very important. Any recognition is important, but this is slightly different because it opens a completely different perspective in consolidating Kosovo's citizenship in the international arena. I'm glad that in foreign policy we are on the same lines as our principles and interests in foreign policy with the foreign policy of the United States of America” ♫ Hoti said.

US President Donald Trump thanked Prime Minister Rama on paper also for the attitudes the Albanian government has held in proportion to the effects <x0malinje” of China, its “abuses with human rights and predatory borrowing practices”, while also promoting the emergence of Albania's “17+1x5>.

US President Trump wrote to Albanian Prime Minister Rama that your “open support for safe telecommunication networks is providing a strong example, and I hope that the United States and Albania can soon sign a 5G Security Understanding Memorandum, which paves the way for other countries in the Balkans to do the same”.

Prime Minister Rama told the press that the full accordion of the 5G” between him and President Trump, whom they spoke personally during the NATO meeting in London, is his conviction and not an American implant.

We clearly have common positions in strategic directions, and I am very pleased that these attitudes in our case stem from conviction not from commitment or conditioning. As far as concrete moves are our own issue, and as such, we treat it very carefully and put it at the right moment, always in the function of Albania's strategic interests and never forgetting that we are strategic allies of the US and the EU, and in foreign policy we are connected with the EU” said Rama, Voa.

Prime Ministers Rama and Hoti made these comments after a joint meeting of the two governments, where a series of agreements for economic, police and cultural co-operation were signed.

Albania's government and Kosovo's held a joint meeting in Tirana today, where projects of interest between the two states were discussed.

Representatives of the two governments signed, at the end of this meeting, a series of memorandums and co-operation agreements in the fields of economy, security, health, education and culture.

The first documents signed today between the two governments were a memorandum for railway co-operation, an agreement on the creation of a joint fund in support of the Presevo Valley, an agreement for further assistance in cases of natural disasters, a protocol for police co-operation in the area of security.

Prime Minister Rama said the facts speak of tangible progress and no agreement signed between the two countries has remained on paper, but some have concluded to implement, some others are under way.

Most important were agreements between the two countries on avoiding double taxes, taxing on income and capital, preventing tax evasion, as well as mobile work.

Further signed was a series of memorandums of co-operation for establishing the 5G digital corridor and facilitating movement in the future, establishing the common basketball league, for the joint digital platform of pre-university education, for the signing of the joint annual cultural calendar, for the co-production of artistic film, for collaboration in the field of health in the face-of-vise with David-19.

At the end of the conference, it was learned that the US is expected to finance the construction of the Skavica hydropower plant, which will have joint exploitation and management between Albania and Kosovo, and an agreement could be signed for that at the weekend.