For three days in a row, the UK-Albania friendship group of the British Parliament has held meetings with representatives of civil society and leaders of Albanian institutions such as the Albanian Parliament, the Mayor Erjon Veliaj, the Governor of the Bank of Albania, the President of the country Ilir Meta, government representatives, etc.
In the capacity of the chairman of the Friendship group of all political parties in the Albanian Parliament between the Parliament of Albania and the United Kingdom, the Albanian MP Lavdrim Krrashi was the initiator of this visit, realized in the framework of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Great Britain and Albania and the deepening of relations between the two parliaments and countries.
“I became an invitation to come to Albania, an invitation which they accepted and came with pleasure to visit our country for three days. The two British MPs Daniel Kawczynski and Lisa Cameron were accompanied by the Special Representative of the Prime Minister Boris Jonhson for trade with the Western Balkans, MP Martin Vickers and His Excellency, the British Ambassador to Albania, Mr. Alaister King-Smith “said MP Krashi.
He further added that beyond Brexit, the UK has left the EU but not Europe. In this view, Britain’s responsibility and commitment to the Western Balkans remains very great. Finally, Britain has two special envoys: one to deal with security and defense issues in the region and the other to deal with trade issues, which comes with a budget of almost 2 2 billion a year, which is a value of 40% of Albanian GDP for a year.
The deputy of Dibra said that this visit of the British delegation was three dimensional.
“The first goal was to celebrate 2022, where both in Great Britain and in Albania it is considered as the year of celebrating the 100th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries.
In fact, for Albania but also for Great Britain, this is something very significant because we cooperate with Great Britain as equals, Britain as a great ally that Albania has in NATO. The second is the close cooperation we have in international relations with Great Britain, given that Britain is a permanent member of the Security Council at the United Nations, while Albania is a temporary member for two years. And in fact, it is a great pleasure that Albania, Britain and the USA initiated for the first time the resolution on the War in Ukraine. This is very meaningful for our band. “We should not see these celebrations only as the conclusion of a century of relations between the two countries, but also as the beginning of cooperation for the next 100 years”, he said.
The delegation of British MPs paid visits to Parliament, with the Deputy Speaker of Parliament but mainly with the friendship group. This is an important group because it has representatives from all political groups, such as the Labor Party, which is the opposition party, the Conservative Party, which is in power, and the Nationalist Party of Scotland, which is another opposition party. Despite this, in the same spirit, the Albania-Great Britain friendship group is composed of representatives from the opposition and the majority.
“For Albania, I think that means a lot. It means that Great Britain, since it has left the European Union, is seeking its resizing in the international arena, and it is in this spirit that Prime Minister Johnson has appointed a special envoy for trade. We have to be quite direct, although diplomatic relations, military relations, in education, and other fields have been at an excellent level, unfortunately trade relations have not been at these levels. Albania-UK trade relations today stand at around milion 45 million a year. Which means that it is very little for a country with extraordinary potential like Great Britain but also Albania. Suffice it to mention that Albanian tourism, of which we are proud and which is one of the voices that brings the greatest income to the Albanian people, is not so well known in the United Kingdom. In fact, all four British MPs were very interested in the possibility of cooperation in the field of tourism, “explained MP Krrashi, adding that this does not mean that relations between the two countries remain only in the field of tourism, as the UK is one of world leaders in terms of infrastructure, renewable energy. So the opportunities are in different areas.
At the end of the visit, the deputies expressed their maximum appreciation for our country.
But to tell the truth, we in Britain have a Diaspora that numbers 150 to 200 thousand Albanians. The perception, often due to the fault of the media, but not only it, is not so positive as far as the Albanian citizens living in Great Britain are concerned. Of course, this has been reflected in them as well, because in addition to being members of the British Parliament, they are also British citizens, so they too have been exposed to this “negative” reputation, towards Albanians living in Great Britain. Having been part of the Albanian Diaspora for more than 25 years in the UK, I can say that the majority of Albanian citizens living in not to say 99% are citizens who are on the right side of the law and is a very small percentage, less than the 1% that is on the other side. “If the first day they came they may have been skeptical, when they left on the third day they left with the best impressions of our country, which I believe will be reflected in further cooperation,” Krrashi concluded. “I think we can inject Britishness into public services, parliamentary culture, trade and investment.”
