Jonathan Moore meetings in Tirana
06/12/2013

The Director for Central and Southern Europe at the US Department of State, Jonathan Moore, arrived in Tirana for an official visit a few days before the country receives the European Union candidate status answer.

In the meeting with the Albanian President, Bujar Nishani, Moore declared that they are happy with Albania’s achievements, the internal stability and its role in the region.

“The European Integration is serves to the interest of Albania, the United States and the European Union”, Moore declared, as quoted by the President’s press office.

He added that besides the current achievements, Brussels expects more progress in the consolidation of the rule of law. He remarked that the Albanian politics must avoid confusion in giving messages to Brussel about the candidate status and integration.

The Presidency’s announcement doesn’t specify the message to which the American official was referring to, and continues with the guarantees that Nishani gave to Mr.Moore for a further consolidation of the rule of law, fight against organized crime and corruption, and by expressing at the same time the deep gratitude of Albania to the United States about everything that they have done for the Albanian nation in the past century.

The United States official met with the Albanian Prime Minister, Edi Rama, and with the Parliament Speaker, Ilir Meta. The announcement says they shared the same conviction that Albania has made considerable progress during this year, by valuing the progress report of the European Commission and its positive recommendations.

The announcement continues by saying that Moore expresses the support of the United States in the European Integration, and noted the importance of continuing the reforms that have been undertaken.

Moore continued his visits with the Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati, with whom he expressed the mutual commitment to push further the cooperation in the implementation of projects and programs that aim to reinforce the rule of law and war against corruption.

The Foreign Ministry closes this announcement with the congratulation that Jonathan Moore gave for the tangible measures given by the government in the past year, with an all-inclusive political climate, as identified in the positive recommendation of the European Commission progress report for the European Union candidate status.

Moore met with the opposition leader, Lulzim Basha. His agenda also foresees a meeting with former Prime Minister Sali Berisha.