President Milanović on State Visit to Albania on Wednesday and Thursday

The President of the Republic Zoran Milanović, together with his spouse Sanja Musić Milanović, will be on a two-day state visit to the Republic of Albania on Wednesday and Thursday. The President will visit Albania at the invitation of the President of that country, Bajram Begaj, with whom he will officially meet on Wednesday in Tirana. During his state visit to Albania, President Milanović will also meet with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Albania Edi Rama. An address by the President to the members of the Albanian Parliament is also scheduled.

The two Presidents will discuss bilateral relations between Croatia and Albania, which are traditionally friendly and without outstanding political issues. The European perspective of countries of the Southeast European region will also be a topic of discussion, whereby Croatia strongly supports Albania’s European Union membership bid. President Milanović’s position is that Albania should have long ago been in a much more advanced stage of integration, i.e. at the end of EU negotiations. “We would like to help Albania more with European Union accession,” President Milanović said in April after meeting with the Albanian President. Furthermore, developments in Southeast Europe will be discussed, as well as other European and global topics.

Intensive cooperation at the highest state level testifies to the friendly relations between Croatia and Albania. The President of Albania Bajram Begaj paid a state visit to Croatia in April this year and the Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama officially visited Croatia in early October. Albania has been a candidate for EU membership since 2014 and negotiations were officially opened only in July last year.