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TIRANA, Albania (AP) – U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited Albania on Thursday to reaffirm ties with key regional partners and reassure the Western Balkans of Washington’s support for integration into the European Union. promised.
Blinken met with government officials and The future of the Western Balkans Albania and several neighboring countries are seeking to join the European Union, U.S. officials say. The US government has strongly supported Albania’s integration into the EU.
“We cannot repeat what we saw in the 1990s and what too many people experienced. That is why we support all efforts to advance the mutual and national integration of the Western Balkans.” “We are committed to ‘Europe,'” Blinken said at a news conference with Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
The United States praised Albania’s leadership in the former war-torn region and its recent role on the United Nations Security Council as a non-permanent member. Albania is a NATO member and regularly assigns small ground forces to international peacekeeping missions and NATO operations.
Albania will host an international summit on Ukraine later this month, with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy expected to attend.
tension between neighbors Kosovo and Serbia Rama said these issues were raised during Blinken’s visit. EU-brokered negotiations to normalize relations have made slow progress, with occasional incidents of violence raising concerns about instability.US and EU have expressed concern Kosovo recently banned the dinar It is used as currency in Serb-majority municipalities.
“I think the EU-facilitated dialogue is the right thing to do, and in fact is the only way forward, and we are committed to doing everything we can to help both countries along that path,” Blinken said. Ta.
Blinken also said that after the Taliban seized power in Afghanistan in August 2021, when U.S. and NATO forces withdrew from the country, “the Albanian people will welcome thousands of Afghan refugees.” He also thanked Albania for its extraordinary generosity. Albania was the first to build housing Approximately 3,200 Afghans fled before eventually immigrating to the United States.
Mr. Blinken met with some Afghans who are still in Albania and plan to soon move to the United States to start new lives. “That journey would not have been possible without Albania,” he said.
After spending a day in the capital, Tirana, Blinken will head to Germany for the Munich Security Conference.
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