Albania–Greece relations

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Albanian Foreign Minister Ditmir Bushati, who is visiting Washington, says that his country has "the most developed democracy in the Western Balkans."

In addition, Bushati says that Albania is "a bastion against Russia's influence in Serbia, Montenegro, Macedonia, Bosnia and Croatia."

An event under the title “103 years since the Autonomy of Northern Epirus” took place on Monday March 27th in the European Parliament in Brussels. The event was organized by the Greek European MP Notis Marias and the “European Conservatives and Reformists” (Anti-federalists) and it was co-hosted by the “National Association North Epirus 1914”.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has denied his country is following an irredentist foreign policy with its insistence on discussing the issue of claims made by the Cham community to the property they left behind when they were expelled from Greece during World War II.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has again returned to the vexed issue of the exiled Cham community in a Greek TV interview broadcast on Tuesday.

Rama said it was a perfect Balkanic paradox that Albania and Greece remained "de jure" in a state of war despite signing a treaty of friendship in 1987.

Giorgos Koumoutsakos, New Democracy's shadow minister for foreign affairs and defense, on Wednesday called for a meeting of the National Council on Foreign Policy (NCFP) in a bid to hammer out a unified strategy on Greek-Albanian relations.

Greece's Foreign Ministry on Thursday accused European Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn of siding with Albania over the issue of the exiled Cham community, after Hahn mentioned the issue as a live one between the two countries.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama scored a propaganda coup on Thursday with a meeting with US President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden in Washington.

Officially held to mark the 25th anniversary of the re-establishment of diplomatic relations, the two leaders discussed terrorism, Albania's role in the Balkans - and baseball among other matters.

Ahead of a major summit of Albanian diaspora communities from around the world, Albania is mulling the best ways of utilizing its large diaspora.

On November 2016, for the first time, the government plans to hold the first-ever diaspora summit, also marking 25 years of post-communist migration.

As Western Balkan states act together to stop the flow of refugees on the old land route through the Balkans, Albania is holding negotiations with neighbouring Greece and Italy about a possible influx across its own borders.

Rama said during his visit to Jerusalem on Monday that Albania is ready to collaborate with its ally Israel in order to contribute to the country's security.

The agreement also expressed the willingness to cooperate in the fields of energy, agriculture, water management, tourism and culture.