Pellegrini: EU Project Will Never Be Complete Without West Balkan Countries

Tirana/Bratislava, March 28 (TASR-correspondent) - President Peter Pellegrini met his Albanian counterpart Bejram Begaj during his official visit to Albania on Friday and voiced unequivocal support for Albania's EU accession aspirations at a joint press conference, TASR has learnt from its special correspondent. According to Pellegrini, the EU project will never be complete without the induction of the Western Balkan countries. Slovakia is a "strong advocate" of Albania joining the EU, and in light of all the reforms that Tirana has managed to implement, Pellegrini voiced his hope that Albania could join the Union by 2030. At the first official visit by a Slovak head of state to Albania, the presidents discussed cooperation in defence, education, agriculture and the environment. Pellegrini pointed out that Slovakia will strengthen its economic ties with Albania by assigning an additional economic diplomat to its Embassy in Tirana. The talks also touched on the issue of Kosovo. Pellegrini assured Bejram that the Slovak decision not to recognise the independence of Kosovo has nothing to do with Slovakia's ties with the Albanian nation, which Slovakia perceives as friendly. He underlined Slovakia's longstanding policy not to recognise countries that declare independence by a unilateral decision. mf/df