Serbia's PM Vucic makes landmark visit to Albania

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Thursday 28 May 2015 - 13:20 Makkah mean time-10-8-1436 Serbian PM Vucic, left, Albanian PM Rama Tirana (IINA) – Serbia’s Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic on Wednesday began a two-day visit to Tirana to meet with his Albanian counterpart Edi Rama, the first visit of a Serbian Prime Minister to Albania. Vucic's visit follows Rama's visit to Belgrade in November last year, the first by an Albanian head of government to Serbia in 68 years. In their meeting which was attended by delegations from both countries, the two premiers discussed issues of mutual interest, especially in the areas of increasing bilateral trade, investment and cooperation in energy as well as tourism and higher education. “The visit is a sign of willingness to move on, despite that we are still far away to agree on everything. I believe that Serbs and Albanians have not only a responsibility towards themselves, but also have a responsibility to the region and Europe,” Rama said during the joint press conference with Vucic. Responding to journalists on the issue of Kosovo, Greater Albania and the drone incident occurred in Belgrade last year, Rama said the different points of view on the issue of Kosovo does not diminish the value of dialogue between Serbia and Kosovo, which is the prologue to the new relations between Albanians and Serbs. Regarding the drone incident, Rama said it proved that the peace, so highly sought and appreciated by all peoples of the Balkans, is as fragile as it may be put at risk by a soccer ball. He emphasized the need to observe the Ohrid Agreement – signed on 13 August 2001 that sought to end immediately hostilities between the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army and Macedonian government security forces. Serbia has been accusing Tirana of wanting to create a Greater Albania encompassing Kosovo, large chunks of Macedonia and other territories where ethnic Albanians live in the Balkans. Albania has repeatedly denied such ambitions, saying borders in the Balkans would not matter once all its states become EU members. AB/IINA