Italy’s and European Union candidate Albania want to bolster "strong" cooperation and "solid" trade ties, foreign minister Antonio Tajani and Albanian president Bajram Begaj agreed during talks.
“Bilateral cooperation at the political level is particularly strong and trade between Italy and Albania – amounting to EUR 3.3 billion in 2023 – is solid," Tajani said in a statement after his talks on Thursday with Begaj in Torre Melissa in the southern Calabria region.
"All the conditions to further strengthen this extraordinary friendship and build a common future in the European Union are in place,” Tajani added, underlining Italy’s unwavering support for Albania’s bid to join the EU, according to the statement.
Tajani and Begaj's talks provided an opportunity to highlight "the significant progress" made in cementing ties between Italy and Albania, said the statement.
One of the "pillars" of this bilateral partnership is cooperation on migration following a (controversial) deal signed in November between Italy and Albania to build asylum processing centres (near the Albanian port of Shengjin), the statement went on.
Tajani is taking part in the centenary commemoration of the death of Anselmo Lorecchio – an Arbereshe (Italo-Albanian) journalist and intellectual and a key figure in the Albanian independence movement – to be held in Pallagorio, near Crotone, the statement noted.
Tajani will also meet with the local Calabrian community of Albanian origin, who are descendants of Albanian-speaking emigrants who arrived in Italy as early as the 15th century, said the statement.
The Calabrian community is the largest Arbereshe community in Italy, with over 58,000 members, the statement concluded.
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