Albania-Israel Summit to Strengthen Cooperation in Innovation, Technology and Cybersecurity

The Albania-Israel Summit, held today in Tirana, brought together 40 innovative Israeli companies, with a focus on strengthening cybersecurity, advancing modern technology and creating new partnerships for the economic development of Albania and the region. The Summit highlighted the importance of knowledge, innovation and digital transformation as key instruments to accelerate development and build safer, more competitive and more sustainable economies.

Prime Minister Rama was also present at the event, where he underlined, among other things, that Albania has built its development vision on trust in technology and digitalization as an opportunity to overcome future challenges more rapidly. Prime Minister Rama praised cooperation with Israel as a partnership supported, among other things, by the historical ties and human values that unite the two peoples.

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Prime Minister Edi Rama: It’s always very good news when a Jew lands in our country, and the more they are, the better.

So thank you for coming and for bringing your will, first and foremost, and then hopefully your know-how to help us move forward on a path we have opened through believing in new technology, through believing in the digitalization of our infrastructure, and through believing in the blessing that new technology is for countries like ours. Countries that are behind but that, through technology, can leapfrog and do things that sometimes much bigger, more developed, and more successful countries in the old way have more difficulty doing.

Once, a dear friend of mine, Professor Ricardo Hausmann, told me that countries do not differ based on what they have; they differ based on what they know. And Israel is the most stunning example of how you can make a difference based on knowledge and not resources.

We believe very much in this relationship, and we have reasons to do so, not just because of our history, which is a history of bonds created in the darkest times for the Jewish people, when Albania came out of the Second World War was the only country in Europe to have more Jews than before the war started, first and foremost thanks to the Muslim people of Albania, who took care of every single Jew like a brother or sister and put their lives on the line to protect them.

This is a story we hold very dear, myself and my government and I are trying to do as much as we can to tell it to our young generation, not for the sake of the Jews, but for the sake of ourselves. Not because of what happened in the past, but because of how we should look around at the world we live in and how we should prepare ourselves for what may happen in the future, not only with the Jews but also with others.

And talking about cybersecurity, we discovered cybersecurity the hard way, again because of our hospitality. We opened the doors to thousands of Iranian people who are fiercely in opposition. We didn’t do it for political reasons or to give them a platform to fight from Albania against that regime. We did it because their lives were in danger, and nobody else wanted to save them.

We opened the door, gave them shelter, and made an agreement that they could live in Albania, raise their children here, and stay safe for as long as needed. But this came with retaliation from the Iranian regime, which attacked us relentlessly for years, targeting the digital public services system we had built to transform a shady and corrupt service structure into a fast, transparent, tariff-free online system.

We became a country where 95 percent of public services are offered online through touchscreen access, whether from inside or outside the country. They aimed to destroy that and push us back into the dark age of poor public services.

At that moment, we were very satisfied to see that Israel behaved as a friend and offered us help. Thanks to that help, together with the help of our friends from the Emirates and experts from the United States, we survived the attack. But we learned that we had to invest and build a stronger defense system, which is not easy when facing an enemy that is not an easy one, as you know very well. In the meantime, we cut every tie with the Khomeinist Republic of Iran and later declared Iran a terrorist state, which it is.

Today I can proudly say that we have a totally different level of cyber defense, again thanks to cooperation with Israel and Israeli talent. We are more than happy to have you here and to see what more we can do together.

The first Israeli dignitary to visit Albania was Shimon Peres, if I’m not mistaken, in 1993. I remember it because during a press conference someone asked him: “Mr. Peres, you come from a small country with a history that in some ways resembles ours. You were once a poor country and now you are very strong. What advice would you give us?”

And Shimon Peres said something I never forgot. He said: “I can’t give advice to you, but just a reminder. You can make an omelet from an egg, but you can never make an egg from an omelet.’’

Our story of change and ups and downs have often been a story of making omelets and then trying to make eggs out of them. But we can avoid some mistakes, and we can learn faster how to make omelets.

So, enjoy our food, enjoy our hospitality, and never forget that for Jews, Albania is home and we want it to remain so. Whatever Albanians may think about politics, governments, or other issues, there is one thing that is certain, and Ambassador Galit can confirm it: there is no antisemitism in Albania, and Jews are always welcome.

We were very pleased to see the increase in Jewish visitors last year, more than 700 percent. Of course, it was 700 percent of something close to nothing, but we hope to see it continue. We now finally have direct flights, and we hope to have more exchanges with you.

Thank you very much. I hope my speech was not too boring and that your long wait for me was not something you’ll remember forever. Again, apologies for the delay. Please feel at home. Let’s do whatever we can together. We want to learn from you and become better. There are really not many places where you can learn and understand how to avoid past mistakes better than Israel.

So please share with us everything you think will not put you in danger. Because asking you to share everything completely would be pointless, since you never would. Thank you so much.