It is a
special honour for me to address the sixty-fifth session
of the General Assembly. I would like to congratulate
the President on his election to this important position.
His experience and continuing commitment strengthen
my conviction that he will take the achievements of his
predecessor even further. Albania will fully support
him as he fulfils his mandate. I take this opportunity to
express our special appreciation to the Secretary-
General for his continuing efforts to revitalize the
global role of the United Nations, as well as to reform
the Organization.
Albania is of the view that the role of the United
Nations remains powerful, coherent and irreplaceable
as the centre of effective global action. It must
continue to be encouraged and supported in its efforts
to overcome the challenges of achieving open
international cooperation, sustainable peace and
security, ongoing development and greater respect for
human rights and fundamental freedoms.
We live in a global world, interconnected and
interdependent, where States and nations must assist
and support each other in the search for a
comprehensive answer to the common problems and
new challenges that we face. Multilateralism remains a
priority for the entire international community. In this
context, a reformed United Nations — revitalized,
dynamic, powerful and effective — is crucial to the
complicated process of global governance. In this path
of cooperation around the world, the role of the United
Nations is irreplaceable, especially in regard to how we
make use of our human and material resources.
Rapidly evolving issues throughout the world,
each with positive and negative consequences that
must inevitably influence the challenges the future will
bring, must be given special priority and approached
with special care. The United Nations challenging
agenda must focus on strengthening peace and security,
fighting terrorism, and the issues of stable
development, climate change, poverty reduction, the
non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction,
natural disasters, human rights, migration, and others.
Albania remains committed to contributing to this
agenda.
The lead role of the Organization and its agencies
in administering its budgetary and human resources
should be responsive to the requests of Member States.
The establishment of the United Nations Entity for
Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women is
the most recent example of tangible success in United
Nations reform. Strengthening the role of women in
society will not only enhance political life but also help
their emancipation and harmonious development.
The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are
a priority in our work. Following the adoption of the
Millennium Declaration (resolution 55/2) a decade ago,
Albania has advanced towards meeting the MDGs in
all areas and with respect to all indicators. It has also
made great efforts to incorporate the MDGs into its
national development strategy.
We are fully committed to reaching the goals set
forth in the acquis communautaire of the European
Union (EU), which requires increasing investment in
social issues, establishing local and central governance
systems, and enhancing development capacity in order
to guarantee the ongoing improvement of the well-
being of the Albanian people. However, as a full-
fledged member of NATO and in the light of its
internal democratic stability, Albania is now seeking
greater standing in the world as a way to bolster its
development in the long term.
Delivering as one is a crucial factor in the reform
designed to assist in development around the world.
United Nations efforts to establish system-wide
coherence offer a real possibility to make the United
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Nations more effective. As a pilot country, Albania is a
success story, having committed itself fully from the
onset. The One United Nations concept in Albania is
being developed in complete harmony with national
sovereignty and national ownership of development,
while responding to the specific needs of the country.
The responsibility of being a pilot country further
encourages us to make this initiative a success. It is
also an opportunity for us to contribute to the overall
reform of the United Nations.
Albania has signed a memorandum of
understanding with the United Nations Department of
Peacekeeping Operations. As a NATO member,
Albania is a force for peace and stability in the region.
Not only does Albania follow a policy of good-
neighbourly relations and strive for the preservation
and strengthening of stability in its own region, it also
has shown its interest in and commitment to stability
and peace in other parts of the world by contributing
military and civilian personnel to the peacekeeping
missions of various international security organizations
and of the United Nations, including the United
Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and
Chad and missions in Afghanistan and Iraq. We are
thus willing to contribute peacekeeping troops
anywhere in the world under the auspices of the United
Nations and regional security organizations like NATO.
Terrorism remains a major threat to peace,
international security and world order. The fight
against terrorism remains a priority that requires great
determination resolve. This global threat may be
prevented and addressed through collective action,
strong responses and the mobilization of all States
Members of the United Nations. We must show our
nations that, as a part of our responsibility, we shall
stand resolute and united against terrorism. Together,
we must define a collective platform and strategy for
victory in the war against terror by strengthening the
international system and order.
We praise and appreciate the work of the Security
Council and its committees for their engagement with
and active support for Member States through their
effective implementation of the Council’s counter-
terrorism resolutions, in particular resolutions 1269
(1999), 1373 (2001), 1540 (2004) and 1624 (2005).
Albania remains fully committed to cooperating with
the Security Council in this regard.
Albania appreciates the Secretary-General’s
contributions to addressing the issue of the Middle
East, particularly in the discussions aimed at achieving
a sustainable solution acceptable to all parties. All
peoples share the desire to live in peace, and
Governments have an obligation to guarantee it. We
support the relaunched dialogue process and hope that,
with the commitment of the international community,
the Palestinians and Israelis will take the steps
necessary to achieving stable peace in that important
region.
Albania believes that the Alliance of Civilizations
is a political means for the United Nations to promote
peace and harmony among civilizations and to build an
inclusive society through education, understanding and
mutual knowledge. As a member of the Group of
Friends, we shall take active part because we believe in
dialogue and contacts among different cultures, in the
need to know and respect each other, and in the
necessity of defending the unique as part of the
richness of the whole. Our approved national strategy
for intercultural dialogue and the holding of the
Inter-Religious Forum in Tirana in January have served
to enrich our experience. However, our participation in
the Third Global Forum of the Alliance of Civilizations
led us to believe that a better job of fighting
stereotypes and prejudice is still needed, as are greater
efforts to make modern multicultural societies more
cohesive.
Albania’s integration into and membership of the
European Union is a key priority of our foreign policy,
where there has rarely been a broader political and
social consensus. The important steps taken by Albania
towards EU membership and the phases of cooperation
under the framework of the integration process have
shown a great deal of potential.
The end of this year promises to be decisive as
we approach two decisions of great importance: the
completion of the visa liberalization process with the
EU and the achievement of candidate status for EU
membership. Albanians will finally be able to enjoy the
real freedom for which they fought and sacrificed
longer and more deeply than any other European
nation. The near-unanimous decision of the European
Parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs to remove
the requirement that Albanians obtain visas to enter the
EU not only gives us great joy, but also confers greater
responsibility on us to fulfil our commitments as we
prepare for EU membership.
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We guarantee that the seriousness with which we
completed the EU questionnaire and our responsible
approach to our relations with all European Union
institutions and member countries will remain the
hallmarks of our efforts to earn the status of candidate
country at the earliest possible date.
Albania’s membership in NATO and its
integration into the European Union are important
regional processes inseparable from the full integration
of the region. We believe that every Western Balkan
country is entitled to play a role in contributing to and
assuming responsibility for the integration and
emancipation of the region. I am happy to acknowledge
that the high level of regional cooperation and political
awareness show that the only way forward is through
Euro-Atlantic integration.
These are hopeful and promising times, now that
the bitter past of that part of Europe has been
consigned to history. Albania and Albanians will
continue to contribute to stability, security, long-term
peace and economic growth by encouraging integration
policies related not just to security and economic
development, but also to coexistence among countries,
peoples and nations, cultures, traditions and history.
A few days ago, a rare occurrence took place in
this very Hall with the adoption by consensus of
resolution 64/298 on the international legitimacy of the
declaration of Kosovo’s independence. That was a very
important event for Kosovo, Serbia, the Western
Balkans, a united Europe and the United Nations. I
would like to express my gratitude for the commitment
and engagement of all international actors, especially
the European Union, which imbued the resolution with
the contemporary philosophy and openness of Europe.
The European Union showed its cohesiveness and
proved that the integration policies of our region are
unstoppable and full of hope, and that the only way to
unite with Europe is through dialogue and cooperation
among neighbouring countries.
Now that the matter of the status of Kosovo and
its borders has been settled definitively, it is time to
begin a dialogue on practical issues. We hope that the
message enshrined in the resolution will immediately
be put into practice by the two independent countries.
We support the immediate launch of dialogue between
Kosovo and Serbia. We support sincere and
constructive dialogue to resolve practical issues of
interest to the daily concerns of their citizens, to help
them and to facilitate and even calm the situation of the
respective Albanian and Serbian minorities. It is time
to resolve the problems and issues concerning
representation, language and education, among others,
in the spirit and vision of a common European future.
Albania considers the consensus adoption of
resolution 64/298 to be an important step not only in
respect of the advisory opinion of the International
Court of Justice and the authority of the United
Nations, but also for the consolidation of the State of
Kosovo and its democratic and European institutions,
its independence and integrity, and its future as a
Member of the United Nations.
Albania appreciates the work of the Security
Council in its engagement towards the implementation
of the United Nations Charter and international law,
which are essential to peaceful coexistence and
cooperation among Member States in addressing
common challenges and contributing to international
peace and security.
The advisory opinion of the International Court
of Justice legally confirmed that the independence of
Kosovo remains a sui generis case that does not set a
precedent for situations in other countries. Now is the
time to prove with concrete facts that we respect the
United Nations and the values that have united us here
today. Today is the day to testify that we support its
authority and its independent institutions. Today is a
golden opportunity to accept the truth and to declare it
loudly.
Today, we have a responsibility towards a country
and a people that rightly wish to be among us and have
given ample evidence that they truly deserve it. I take
this opportunity to appeal to my colleagues, whose
countries have not yet recognized the independence of
Kosovo, to recognize it now, by assuring them that this
is the only way to contribute to long-term stability and
peace, not just in the region but also globally.
In conclusion, I would like to confirm once again
that Albania is determined to continue to support the
United Nations agenda and the stronger functioning of
the Organization at all levels.