Prime Minister Edi Rama was welcomed by his British counterpart Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street, United Kingdom, on the first official visit by an Albanian government head at this historic building.
Prime Minister Rama and Prime Minister Sunak praised the very good existing bilateral relations on their 100th anniversary and expressed common will to further deepen ties in the future, strengthening at the same time economic cooperation, trade exchanges, security cooperation and the fight against cyber attacks in particular.
“Prime Minister Rama, Edi, it’s a great pleasure to welcome you in the UK, the 10 Downing Street today. UK and Albania obviously already have a strong partnership and we are looking forward to deepening that relation with you today. But there are a lot more to talk about our relations, including strengthening the economic cooperation, trade and security, in particular to counter the hostile cyber attacks that Albania has faced,” British Premier Sunak said.
The meeting welcomed progress in the fight against illegal migration in compliance with the joint agreements signed for this purpose.
“Last year we signed a communiqué to tackle the illegal migration and I am very pleased with the progress that has been made on that,” British Prime Minister said during the meeting.
On his part, PM Rama said that his visit represents a particular moment in the cooperation between the two countries, particularly in terms of joining forces to crack down on the criminal networks and avoid innocent people falling into the hook of these networks.
“Thank you, Prime Minister! I am very honoured! As you know this is the first official visit by an Albanian Prime Minister to this historic building and I am thankful for that. It is a particular moment in our cooperation. As you said, we are joining forces, fully convinced that we have to make utmost to crack down on criminal networks and also to prevent innocent people from falling into the hook of these networks.
At the same time, I would also like to thank you for the opportunity to underline that just as all Brits are not James Bond or Mr. Bean, Albanians are not all some characters out of “Taken”.
As the boy coming on board of a boat is not just an Albanian, but part of a broader picture, Dua Lipa too is not simply a British singer, but she is an Albanian emigrant who has come here as many others to construct, to nurse, to cook and to sing for you and we want to make sure that this community feels not only safe, but also honoured here. The rotten apples are our objective to go after them and win this battle and as you said, in terms of security, we are really interested to strengthen our cooperation. I have to say that it is after a long time that I am feeling really very, very serious commitment, not just in words, but also deeds on your side and I look forward to do the best together with you. Thank you very much again and I would like to invite you to visit Tirana, because no British Prime Minister has visited Albania since Winston Churchill,” PM Rama said.