TIRANA, November 30 – President Bajram Begaj will receive his German counterpart, Frank-Walter Steinmeier on a state visit to Albania on Thursday. This marks the first visit of a German president to Albania in 27 years.
The visit is a further signal of Germany’s support for the European future of this Balkan country, analysts said.
According to the agenda, the official welcoming ceremony will begin at the President’s Institution at 10:00 on Thursday.
Meanwhile, the two presidents will hold a joint press conference around 10:55 – 11:25.
Steinmeier will also meet with Prime Minister Edi Rama and will hold a speech in the Assembly at 11:30.
A visit to the National Museum “House with Leaves”, a discussion on how to face the communist past and a conversation with students from the six countries of the Western Balkans in Tirana on Thursday is also planned. The Federal President will be introduced to Albanian-German cooperation development projects during his visit to Berat.
In the meantime it is reported that the German President is visiting North Macedonia, where he met with President Pendarovski and Prime Minister Kovacevski. The agenda of the visit also includes a speech in the Macedonian parliament. In North Macedonia, the German president also met with young people and people from art and cinematography, as well as visited the first wind park in Bogdanci.
On the eve of his visit to these two countries, Steinmeier told DW that the achievements of North Macedonia and Albania “deserve recognition and respect”. Among other things, he said that the tour of visits aims to convey the message that Germany does not forget the Western Balkans. /Argumentum.al
