Joint press point

So Prime Minister Rama, dear Edi,

Welcome, welcome back to the NATO Headquarters. It’s great to see you again.

We were all shocked by the earthquake that hit Albania last November.

And at NATO we all feel the pain of those who suffered.

Edi, you have also suffered a personal loss.

Please accept my heartfelt condolences to all those who lost their loved ones in that terrible earthquake.

NATO responded through our disaster relief coordination centre.

We mobilized help from Allies and partners.

This shows that when one Ally suffers, we all stand together. And we act together.

Today I welcome you to NATO as President-in-Office of the OSCE.

And Prime Minister of Albania. And President of the OSCE and we thank you for your strong support to both NATO but also your important work in the OSCE as Chairperson-in-office of the OSCE.

The OSCE is a crucial forum to discuss arms control, military transparency, and confidence building measures. And we welcome the role it plays in Ukraine and other conflict areas.

These are all important issues for NATO.

So you can count on our support in your role as OSCE Chair this year.

Albania is a valued Ally. Your participation in NATO’s operations, missions and deployments in Kosovo, Afghanistan and in the Baltic States are solid contributions to our shared security.

We can count on Albania’s active and positive commitment to stability and cooperation in the Western Balkans region. 

And your active role in promoting NATO’s Open Door policy.

I am encouraged by Albania’s efforts to invest more in defence.

And I support you in this endeavor. 

NATO’s investment in Kuçovë airbase shows our commitment to Albania and to the region. And this will help us make all become safer because it will strengthen our presence in this part of Europe.

So Prime Minister Rama,

Thank you once again for Albania’s strong contribution to our shared security and our stability. Through NATO and now through the OSCE chairmanship.

So once again, welcome, it’s great to see you again.

EDI RAMA [Prime Minister of Albania]: Thank you very much, Mr Secretary General, dear Jens. I’m here, and I’m honoured to be here in the capacity of the Chairman in Office of the OSCE, but also to take advantage from this opportunity to share with you some more about Albania and NATO relations.

First of all, thank you very much for your warm words about the tragedy that has hit Albania on November 26, and also for your generous help by calling on Allies to be helpful. And I have to tell you also publicly, as I told you in private, that we are very grateful to all of them, military, of NATO members, that have been very much, from the day one, on our side, and they’ve helped us to deal with this devastating tragedy.

As for the OSCE, I have to repeat that for us, the crisis in and around Ukraine remains the most pressing security challenge in Europe. And that’s why it’s an utmost priority of the Albanian chairmanship. We’ll do all we can to support efforts towards a peaceful resolution and we’ll encourage respect for OSCE principles and commitments and the full implementation of the Minsk Agreement, supporting the efforts of the Trilateral Contact Group and the Normandy Process, with a view to implement commitments which make lives of citizens easier.

And here it comes the amazing role and the great importance of the presence of the Special Monitoring Mission in Ukraine, as an essential . . . as an essential tool to de-escalate tensions and move towards a resolution of the conflict. NATO member countries have been among the major contributors to the mission, both in terms of funds and human resources. And this continued support is very much welcomed.

Just to give an idea, it’s over four million people on both sides of the contact line that have benefited from the Special Monitoring Mission, monitoring and facilitating localised ceasefires in 2019. And in the same time, although there were 143 civilian casualties, unacceptable and heart-breaking, it’s a significantly . . . decrease compared to the previous year, 2018, and we look forward to decrease it further. And I am very hopeful that also on the side of the NATO member countries will be sensibility to support the increase of technological facilities to monitor the conflict zone, where, especially during night time, there are a lot of . . . a lot of breaks of the ceasefire.

And last but not least, I want to reconfirm also publicly what I reconfirmed in the NATO summit and also in our private meeting that Albania, beyond the need to reshape its own budget and to address the needs for the massive reconstruction operation, will stick to its commitment about the dedicated budget to NATO. And we will continue to stick to it and to meet the objective we have settled together in Wales.

Thank you also for being so helpful and supportive in the region and especially, lately, for having supported the very welcome development between Belgrade and Pristina about the resettlement of the airline. It’s a really very important step and I fully agree with you that it’s a step that should be followed by others in a process of peaceful cooperation and regional development.

So, again, thank you for everything. And we’ll continue to work hand to hand. And we consider NATO as an important part of our work in the OSCE and as an important factor in all our common efforts to make our mission a success and to make life of people better during this year.

OANA LUNGESCU: Okay, we have a question over there. Albanian TV.

QUESTION [Albanian Public Television]: What will be the priority of your cooperation for the security of the population in the conflict zones like Ukraine? Thank you.

JENS STOLTENBERG [NATO Secretary General]: So, first of all, we strongly appreciate the cooperation between NATO and the OSCE. And just the fact that Prime Minister Edi Rama is here now and is going to brief all the 29 NATO members, Allies, on his plans and ambitions for his tenure as chairperson of the OSCE reflects the importance of the cooperation between NATO and the OSCE.

Second, we strongly support the OSCE in general and, in particular, the efforts of the OSCE in Ukraine. The Special Monitoring Mission is of great importance to help to diffuse the conflict, to implement a ceasefire. And we have stated again and again, from the NATO side, that it is extremely important that the monitors, they can operate freely, have unimpeded access to the whole territory. And of course, it’s absolutely unacceptable that some of the equipment that they use, some of the surveillance drones are attacked. So we support Prime Minister Rama in his efforts to strengthen the OSCE’s position and activities in Ukraine. That’s a key to diffuse conflict and to find a lasting and peaceful solution.

EDI RAMA: Let me stress that beyond the quite disturbing general frame, there are some steps forward that have been undertaken. Also, thanks to the involvement and efforts of Chancellor Merkel and President Macron through the Normandy format, and we have seen the exchange of a large group of detainees on December 29, which is particularly relevant. And I’m very hopeful that we’ll see more of this urgently-needed positive steps toward a peaceful resolution of the conflict.

So it’s important to consolidate to what has been achieved so far. The situation is very fragile, of course, but we exchange exactly of that: how to support the process and how, through some needed measures, to strengthen both the capacities of the Special Monitoring Mission through technology and the trust between both sides, through helping and pushing them towards more significant steps.

OANA LUNGESCU: Quick second question, Euronews.

ERNEST BUNGURI [Euronews]: Thank you. Ernest Bunguri, Euronews Albania. Prime Minister, there have been lately some, mainly, social media frictions between forth and back, Tirana and Tehran. Does it represent any real threat to small Albania and by consequence to NATO? And for Secretary General, do we have a date for the newest country that is expected to come, North Macedonia? How is it going with the procedure in Spain? And how do you see these efforts of cooperation between countries in the region and specifically, again, these attempts of agreement between Serbia and Kosovo? Thank you.

EDI RAMA: Albania is proud to have offered shelter to a few thousand people, which lives were threatened by the regime in Tehran. It’s part of our tradition, it’s part of what we are. We were the only country that after the Second World War had more Jews than before. So we know very well that for Jews, Albania was . . . was a safe home during the time of the Holocaust. So we did it as a human . . . humanitarian operation. It was not a statement against the regime, frankly. But we are really not at all going to change our tradition and also our approach towards these people, who need to be protected, by a regime who is a threat for their lives. And as for them, their malicious activities, in Albania, we’ve been very clear: we have expelled their ambassador first, and now, lately, other people that were involved in activities that are out of the diplomatic regulation . . . regulated mission. And we will continue to stand strong. And on the other side, we are not alone in that. So we are part of a big alliance. And this operation is an operation that has been made hand to hand with the United States.

JENS STOLTENBERG: Nearly all NATO Allies have now ratified the accession protocol for North Macedonia. So I really hope that North Macedonia will become a full member in the near future. I am absolutely certain that they will become a member. But of course, we need to respect that there is a process that has to take place in all the 29 parliaments before the accession protocol is ratified in all Allied countries. But we are very close to finalising that process.

I think that membership, full membership for North Macedonia is of great importance for North Macedonia, for the whole region and for NATO. And we can see that because NATO has enlarged over the last years and that has been an historic and extremely important process. We have seen that also in the Western Balkans. Albania joined in 2009, again, good for Albania, good for NATO. And NATO and Albania, we work very closely together and this is important for our shared security. It is also a way for NATO to invest in infrastructure.

And I mentioned the planned NATO investment in the Kuçova airbase. This is a significant investment. We have decided to do so. And I will push to make sure that we are implementing this as soon as possible. This is about upgrading the air base, upgrading the runway, the tower and also establishing storage facilities for ammunition and for fuel. And then this space can be used for many important activities, including air policing, training out from the upgraded, modernised airbase in Albania. Again, good for Albania and good for all other NATO Allied countries.

We strongly support the dialogue between Pristina and Belgrade. Therefore, we also, of course, support the resumption of this dialogue, because it has been suspended for some time now. We believe that this dialogue is the only way to find a sustainable and lasting political solution to the conflict. And we will also support it, not only through our . . . providing our political support, but also by helping to solve one issue, and that is the issue related to the lower airspace over Kosovo. There is a NATO-facilitated process addressing that issue. And the hope is that we can find a way to agree how to reopen the lower airspace, so they can be direct air traffic between Belgrade and Pristina, and we are working hard on that within this NATO framework.

OANA LUNGESCU: Thank you very much. This completes this press point. Thank you.