Albania will not relocate its embassy to Jerusalem

Hoti and Rama speaking at the meeting of the governments of Albania and Kosovo

 Yesterday morning Prime Minister Edi Rama published the letter he had received from US President Donald Trump, where, among other things, he encouraged Albania to move its embassy to Jerusalem.

Later, during a joint conference with the Prime Minister of Kosovo, Hoti, Prime Minister Rama said that Albania is the only country in Europe that had more Jews after World War II than before it and the only place where they found refuge, protection, and security so great that no Jew surrendered to the Nazis.

"Albania is the place where Albanians surrendered to the Nazis by pretending to be the Jews they had welcomed in their home. Albania is a country that has an old historical connection with Israel and great respect for Israel, but Albania in foreign policy in this aspect is completely aligned with the EU."  said Mr. Rama.

Even in 2017, Albania voted in favor of a resolution of the United Nations Assembly through which the United States was called to withdraw from the decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.

President Trump thanked Mr. Rama in a letter for his support "in the economic normalization between Serbia and Kosovo and for your strong support of the Abrahamic Agreements, the most significant step towards peace in the Middle East for this generation." "I urge you to join the United States and other European nations in moving your embassy to Jerusalem," President Trump wrote.

The Prime Minister of Kosovo Abdullah Hoti also commented on this topic, who had a different position.

"As for the embassy in Jerusalem, we are a new country, we need recognition. With the Washington agreement, in addition to major economic and infrastructure projects, which completely change the economic situation in Kosovo and the region, there is also a recognition, which is very important. Every recognition is important, but this is a little different because it opens a completely different perspective in consolidating Kosovo's statehood in the international arena. "I am glad that in foreign policy we are on the same lines in terms of our principles and interests in foreign policy with the foreign policy of the United States of America," said Mr. Hoti.

US President Donald Trump thanked Prime Minister Rama in a letter sent to him relating the attitudes that the Albanian government has taken in relation to the "malignant" influences of China, "its human rights abuses and predatory lending practices", encouraging the exit of Albania Chinese initiative "17 + 1".

US President Trump wrote to Albanian Prime Minister Rama that “your open support for secure telecommunications networks is setting a strong example and I hope that the United States and Albania can soon sign a 5G Security Memorandum of Understanding, which opens the way for other countries in the Balkans to do the same”.

Prime Minister Rama told the press that the "complete harmony over 5G" between him and President Trump, which he spoke about personally during the NATO meeting in London, is his conviction and not an imposition by the United States.

"We clearly have common positions in strategic directions, and I am very pleased that these positions in our case, stem from conviction not from imposition or conjuncture. As far as concrete moves are concerned, it is our issue and as such, we treat it very carefully and place it at the right time, always in the function of Albania's strategic interests and never forgetting that we are a strategic ally of the US and the EU. and in foreign policy, we are aligned with the EU."- said Mr. Rama.