“Albania is a determinative NATO member state with relation to the security of the Western Balkans and in fact the whole of the Southeast European region, in addition to which it is one of the main arteries of European energy supply and the gas pipeline from Azerbaijan will pass through the territory of Albania, and accordingly Hungary strongly supports Albania’s EU accession efforts”, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Péter Szijjártó told Hungarian news agency MTI by telephone following talks in Tirana.
“Budapest welcomes the fact that the European Commission has recommended the commencement of accession negotiations with Albania”, he added.
“At the EU summit in December Hungary will be calling for an immediate decision to be made concerning the fact that accession negotiations will begin as soon as Albania has implemented the remaining judicial reforms required. In Budapest’s view, the EU will be able to gain strength if it does this. Furthermore, as a neighbour of the Western Balkans region Hungary is fully aware of the fact that the fastest route to peace and security in the region is through European integration. Albania is a crucial country from this perspective and accordingly it is important that accession negotiations begin as soon as possible”, he said.
However, in view of the fact these negotiations are not easy, he and his Albanian counterpart Ditmir Bushati have agreed that from 1 February Hungary will have a Hungarian diplomat with prior experience in Hungary’s EU accession negotiations stationed at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Tirana, who will assist Albania with his advice, Mr. Szijjártó added.
The Minister also told the press: “No obstacles remain to Wizzair launching a new air passenger route between Budapest and Tirana in April 2017, which will represent a major step forward in bilateral relations. Other major advances include the fact that a Hungarian trade representation has been operating in Tirana since July of this year and Hungary’s export-import bank has opened a 185 million euro credit line to facilitate cooperation between Hungarian and Albanian enterprises. Within the framework of this, Hungarian businesses will primarily have opportunities within the energy and transport infrastructure development sectors, including motorway and railway development, the construction of hydro-electric power plants and other energy-related projects.
In the interests of improving personal relations, from next September Hungary will be providing scholarships for 20 Albanian students to attend Hungarian universities; the related agreement was signed by Foreign Minister Szijjártó during his current visit.
(MTI)
