Thousands of Albanians who work and live in Italy are expected to benefit from the recognition of their work years, through the agreement between the two countries, which was discussed during the parliamentary session.

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Anila Denaj, in her speech emphasized that, “the agreement between the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Italy in the field of social security, paves the way for all Albanians living and working in Italy to benefit from their hard work.”

“This is an achievement that comes after a lot of work for more than a decade”, said Denaj, who called the agreement of great importance and highlighted that even the agreement with Canada or other countries is the merit of persistent work of the socialist government.

“This agreement guarantees that no citizen misses a single day of contributions, regardless of where he worked, thus enabling the fulfillment of the legal conditions for pension benefits in both countries. Citizens benefit from insurance for old age, disability and family pension; insurance for sickness and pregnancy benefits and unemployment insurance”, said Denaj.

She emphasized that every person has the right to withdraw the insured benefit, partial pension at least for 15 years of work and full pension at most for 36 years and 8 months of work.

Below you can find the speech of the Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development:

Dear leader of the session, dear fellow MPs, citizens and compatriots in Italy!

In fact, I cannot agree more with the previous speaker, when he places importance on the attention we must give to the work, sacrifice, effort of all our compatriots in Italy and beyond.

And today we all should put this in focus, in our attention and to celebrate a work, which for more than 10 years, with great difficulty and with persistence from the socialist government, but also at the political level, reaches an agreement that makes us all proud.

This is due to the work of the technical groups, which I had the honor to accompany for part of the time as former Minister of Finance and Economy and today as a member of this honorable parliament, I vote for a very important agreement, which the colleagues have mentioned, starting with Turkey and continuing with many other countries.

It was left unmentioned, because all the focus was on the countries of the European Union, but also a very important agreement with Canada for 75,000 Albanians who have been living and working in Canada for years. It was again us as a government that made it possible after a great deal of technical work. Not one or two or three, but more than 11 deals were made possible.

And to bring you back to the point of the agenda, the one for which we should all celebrate. We must not leave without mentioning the financial weight that this act has and that has been an important part and of the difficulty beyond what may be a technical element that belongs to the field of responsibility of the Social Security Institute.

The agreement will be applied to employed and self-employed persons in relation to, insurance for old age, disability and family pension; insurance for sickness and pregnancy benefits; and unemployment insurance.

Also, through this agreement, the national legislations of both countries are harmonized, as well as all the rules for the coordination of social security schemes are reflected.

I want to remember that in order to receive a pension, both for people living in Albania and those living abroad, a minimum of 15 years of work is required. While in order to benefit from a full old-age pension, 36 years and 8 months of work are needed.

All years of work known as working seniority are counted from the age of 16 for both men and women, regardless of the sector where they worked.

I would like to make a special appeal to my fellow MPs in rural areas, where apart from the fact that they complain about how small the contributions are in terms of pensions in rural areas, to help here in particular, not only the pension reform, but to ameliorate our daily work as a deputy, so that all farmers can appreciate the contract. The one that connects their work with social security, like the contract that connects their work with the daily toil and sweat of the products they put on the market.

And here, I want to stop a bit. With this reality, which we are facing every day in relation to the change in prices, but also the high lack of formalization of contracts in every element in the rural area, to give opportunities, to follow and regulate many other legal aspects, which this honorable parliament has given approval for.

I do not want to overstate the importance and focus of the ratification of this agreement, I want to emphasize that it is our responsibility, to look at the rural areas as a very important source of a direct relationship in the formalization of the economy, but also an important contribution to the state budget.

Dear fellow MPs, this agreement is not only for our compatriots in Italy and for Albanian citizens, who have worked and contributed to the Italian state and have chosen to return to Albania. Through this agreement, we give all Albanian citizens an equal right, the recognition of all years of work and contributions paid in the social insurance scheme. Both parties, such as the Albanian and the Italian, are sitting at the table with the full will to recognize the citizens of both countries with the basic right to social security recognized in Article 22 of the Declaration of Human Rights. This is another initiative of the Albanian government that has been successfully concluded and it is at the same time a very important element that during the last year another initiative, where I have been a witness as part of the Albania-Greece friendship group, chairman of that friendship group together with some fellow MPs.

In the discussions that we have carried out with the Greek side, let us make it possible for two technical meetings to take place in the neighboring Greek state and to enable the same element so important for our compatriots in Italy, to be carried out as well for those in Greece. And let’s not get caught up in political discussions, but let’s feel the name of Albania and our flag also through this very important element, the appreciation for immigrants, for their work, their sacrifice, because we all have family members who have suffered, perhaps from one place to another, and about which today in this pulpit we will talk only about them and with a celebration for all of us who made it and soon we will make it for Greece as well.

Thank you!