Ditmir Bushati

The Foreign Ministers of Greece and Albania, Mr. Nikos Kotzias and Mr. Ditmir Bushati, met over the weekend in Crete, and according to their joint statement, released on Sunday, Greece and Albania took “a step forward” towards resolving open bilateral issues.

Albanian and Greek officials head on Friday to Crete, Greece, for two days of planned talks on past and present disputes dogging often tetchy relations between the two Balkan countries.

The talks will be headed by the Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati and his Greek counterpart Nikolaos Kotzias, each accompanied by a large group of experts and diplomats.

Besides not having any added value in its content, the new bill on national minorities in Albania marks a step back.
This was declared today by the head of the Unity for Human Rights Party, Vangelis Dule in the debates that are taking place in Parliament on this bill, in response to the fact that the Albanian Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati and PM Edi Rama championed the bill.

Albania is expected to adopt a new law on minorities in mid-October that gives them more rights in line with the best international standards.

The draft law was presented as a joint document of four ministries after a working group worked on it for almost three years.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama announced Albania's new government Sunday. For the next four years, 13 ministers will aid him in running the country after his Socialist Party, PS, won an overwhelming majority in the June 25 elections.

Albanian increasingly see France as their preferred destination to seek asylum in a time where their first destination of choice, Germany seems determined to reject almost every request coming from Albanian citizens.

Following her visit to Serbia, Bulgarian Foreign Minister Ekaterina Zaharieva continues today her Balkan tour with talks in Albania.

Recognition of the Bulgarian minority in Albania. This will be one of the main goals of the Foreign Minister.

Albanian authorities hope that the new Japanese embassy in Tirana will help economic exchanges between two countries grow and encourage Japanese businesses to invest in Albania.

The ribbon-cutting ceremonial opening of the embassy was performed by the Albanian Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati, and by Japan's Minister for Foreign Affairs, Nobuo Kishi, on Monday.

Leaders of Balkan countries are sending messages of support to Great Britain after a suspected terror attack killed 22 persons, some of them children, and injured 59 at a concert in Manchester on Tuesday.

Albanian foreign minister Ditmir Bushati said he was "saddened by the horrific Manchester attack."

Albania supports "the platform of the Albanian political factor in Macedonia," says Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati.

"We have supported the platform of the Albanian political factor in Macedonia in an effort to implement the unimplemented Ohrid Agreement, create a Euro-Atlantic path for Macedonia, and improve relations with its neighbors," said Bushati.