19 May 2017

Tiranë, Albania

The Balkan Forum was welcomed in Tirana by Ms. Eglantina Gjermeni, Minister of Urban Development of Albania, who passionately spoke about her work; cooperation with the ministries of tourism and energy, and provided numerous concrete examples of cooperation with other countries in the region. 

Minister Gjermeni mentioned the assistance that she received in the process of establishing her ministry, and learning from the experiences of Kosovo, Macedonia and Serbia. She also mentioned cooperation in promoting regional tourism, namely between Albania, Kosovo and Montenegro, and Albania, Kosovo and Macedonia, by working with foreign tourist agencies and journalists to develop more attractive offers for tourists to visit such a diverse region in a short period of time.

In addition to cooperation, and promoting this more prominently, I suggest support from media, local, national and international to transmit these messages. It is very important that good examples (in terms of regional cooperation) find place in media, as do news about conflicts. Cooperation may not be a big news for media, but it is for us. A good cooperation is a joint achievement.  

She said “we share values and have common things that bring us together, and we should not stop promoting good examples of cooperation and models that can be replicated. Western Balkans, and Balkans as a whole, is a zone that should be promoted in the world for the sake of its exceptional potential, and for the sake of its energetic, hard working population, eager for change.”  

Video interview with Eglantina Gjermeni