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| Edi Rama speaking in Bergamo as the guest of honor at the S.E.M.I conference. "Culture will save the world" |
Rama tells how he managed to get vaccines secretly from Italy despite Pfizer's bans.
A vaccine smuggling operation was carried out by two ministers. This is the story that Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama told this morning in Bergamo during his speech at "Culture will save the world", organized by "Semi - Storie di Eccellenza, Merito e Innovazione" - he says.
Rama was referring to Foreign Minister Luigi Di Maio who was sitting in the front row of the Aula Magna of the University of Bergamo in what was one of his first public appearances after his election defeat.
And who refused to comment, refusing to answer journalists' questions, but limiting himself to a five-minute speech during which he recalled the importance of "cultural diplomacy" and culture for Italy "a country with 58 UNESCO sites" and the creation of directorates of foreign institutes, which coordinates cultural institutes, which do a fundamental job for Italian exports as well as for the spread of the Italian language.
In his speech, Rama spoke about the Albanian political situation and his relationship with Italy since the days of the dictatorship when young people like him went to Vlora, not for the sea, but to watch Italian television programs.
"Today I am saying something that no one knows. I am Albanian-Italian, Di Maio is Neapolitan-Albanian, and we did a smuggling operation together. What kind of Italian or Albanian are you if you always comply with the law?", said Rama.
He returned to the period when Covid-19 hit hard Albania.
"People were afraid that they would die like fish without water, but we had no opportunity to make the vaccine. I asked Luigi, can you give us doses at least for the doctors and nurses? Pfizer had a very clear contract with governments: I give you the vaccines, but you can't give these vaccines to anyone else.
Something that may be anything but not Christian. Luigi said it would be a very serious thing. But we did it with our secret services: two ministers smuggling goods to each other to save people. Then we could not hide the vaccines, we had to administer them as well. Pfizer's lawyers threatened to sue and wanted to know how we got them, but we just said from a friendly country. I said that we had learned from the Neapolitans that you should never give up a friend in front of the police", Rama stressed.
He finally calmed Di Maio on any controversy by adding "Luigi, you are now a free man".
Rama called his country "a more confused Italy" and said that he does not think there will be problems with the next Italian government.
"We have never had problems in the past with any kind of government, both left and right because we belong to the same history: Berlusconi would have been a good socialist if the seat had not already been taken on that side", underlined Rama.
Speaking about the Italian elections, Rama joked with the mayor of Bergamo, Giorgio Gori.
"He is one of the most incredible losers in the history of the last 30 years. I don't know how you managed to lose, but you managed to cause a defeat that no opponent would have", declared Rama.
Rama expressed optimism about Albania's entry into the European Union.
"We have tried many times, but it is like organizing a wedding and the bride does not come. Many years of dictatorship have made us the furthest country from Russia (we don't need to apply sanctions, we've been doing it since 1990) and the closest to Europe and the USA. We are more pro-American than Texans. For the EU, we are now calmer because there have already been elections in countries like France and the Netherlands, since a minister before and after the elections are two different people, the attitude is different", he emphasized.
Bergamo is approaching the moment when it will become the Capital of Culture in 2023.
"It is a source of pride and at this historical moment it is a great opportunity to build bridges and to discover that in the world we are closer than we think," said Di Maio.
Edi Rama emphasized that the invitation to Bergamo is one of the few that he has accepted.