Good Afternoon and thank you, Caroline. And a warm welcome to Mr. Albert Nikolla, Vice-Minister of Health and Social Protection; Mr. Albert Dervishi, Vice-General Director of Albanian Police Authority; Mrs. Alma Tandilli, Chairwoman, National Agency for Child Protection in Albania; distinguished speakers and guests. I am pleased to be with you here today as you …
Read More»
Distinguished Deputy Prime Minister Brace, members of cabinet, members of Parliament, dear mayors, dear deputy ministers, members of the donor community, and distinguished guests. Allow me to take a moment to express the United States’ solidarity with the Albanian people in the wake of last weekend’s earthquake. It has been an unsettling past several days, …
Read More»
Good morning. ASP Director Veliu, Director Nano, thank you for inviting me here today to participate in the final Antiterrorism Assistance Training Course of the year. Congratulations to all of today’s graduates! During the past year, you have deepened your knowledge of investigations and, with the assistance of the American trainers and mentors, have used …
Read More»
High Judicial Council Chair Llagami, Director Sadushi, School of Magistrates Faculty, distinguished guests and chancellors, thank you all for being with us today at this important event. Today we are here to recognize another step forward towards implementing judicial reform in Albania: the successful completion of the Summer Court Administration Program*. Reform of Albania’s judiciary …
Read More»
AmCham Chairman Crawford, Board Members, Deputy Minister Haxhi, AmCham Members, Friends, and Colleagues: Good evening. It’s an honor to be here tonight. I’d like to start by bidding farewell to Mark Crawford, the Chamber’s outgoing chairman, and Enida Bezhani, AmCham’s former executive director. On behalf of the United States Embassy, allow me to extend my …
Read More»
Deputy Prime Minister, Agency Representatives, Mayors, distinguished guests, Pershendetje! Thank you for the opportunity to be here today. The work you are doing is building the promise for a better and brighter future in Albania, for all Albanians. The United States is proud to contribute to that effort. Together, we are laying the foundation for …
Read More»
People’s Advocate Ballanca, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen. This past summer, several of my Embassy colleagues attended a ceremony at the site of the former communist labor camp in Tepelena. They gathered there with many others, including several of you here today, to honor the former inmates of that camp. During that ceremony, President Meta …
Read More»
Minister Gjonaj, colleagues of the Diplomatic Corps, distinguished guests, graduates, It is my honor to be with you today. On behalf of the United States Government, I congratulate all of today’s graduates on your outstanding achievement. I wish you all great success. I hope to be brief, so please allow me to share three messages with …
Read More»
Good morning. It is a pleasure to back in Berat. This is the second of many meetings that we are having with young people in towns across Albania. When I was asked where I might want to speak to young people, my first answer was Berat – which is probably my favorite town in Albania …
Read More»
At a conference on Albania’s economic perspective for 2017, Deputy Chief of Mission David Muniz noted among other things that judicial reform is “critical not only for Albania’s EU integration process, which is ultimately the reason why the project gets so much support from the United States, but, also, it will have specific benefits on …
Read More»
Deputy Minister Gjebrea, Dr. Nikolla, Mr. D’Silva, members of civil society – especially our friends and partners at Catholic Relief Services and Caritas. The fight against human trafficking is one of the United States’ highest priorities. It is an affront to our core values, it is a crime of heinous proportions, and it violates our …
Read More»
On December 12th a group of English language students from Selita visited the Embassy. They met our Marine Security Guard Detachment Commander and learned about the role of the Marines in U.S. missions worldwide as well as the hard work and dedication that the job requires. They discussed exchange programs and resources to improve their …
Read More»
Countering Violent Extremism requires creative solutions and cooperative effort around the globe. In this regard, Albania has a very unique story to tell. Albania is rightly renowned for its religious tolerance and its culture of hospitality. Historically Albania has a tradition of protecting vulnerable groups. Albanians have accepted refugees and those fleeing conflict and persecution …
Read More»
*Human trafficking remains a global challenge which requires energy and dedication to combat effectively. It is my pleasure to be here today to congratulate everyone who has contributed to the fight against trafficking in Albania over the last year. I will highlight the U.S. government’s strong appreciation for National Coordinator Elona Gjebrea and, who has …
Read More»
Minister Ekonomi, Ambassador Vlahutin, Distinguished Guests, Good morning, Thank you to Mr. Pedrazzi and FIAA for allowing me the opportunity to address you today. Many of our public remarks have been focused on rule of law and justice reform. Today I want to expand on those topics and speak more specifically about the critical relationship …
Read More»
Panorama: Albania has been visited by President Bush and several secretaries of state. Recently, PM Rama met with President Obama and VP Biden. Press statements about the meetings have only talked about diplomatic as well as military cooperation in the context of NATO. This kind of relationship that is confined to the diplomatic realm, is …
Read More»
On March 15, Chargé d’Affaires David Muniz visited Marin Barleti University where he held an interesting discussion with Law, Economics and Political Science students on the 25th Anniversary of the reestablishment of the U.S. – Albanian diplomatic relations. Chargé d’Affaires Muniz talked about how the relationship of our two countries has grown steadily, in terms …
Read More»
Deputy Chief of Mission David Muniz and Public Affairs Officer Ryan Roberts of the U.S. Embassy in Tirana attended a round table discussion that brought together five Albanian journalists who traveled to Belgrade in January and five Serb journalists who visited Tirana this week in an exchange program seeking to help overcome stereotypes in both …
Read More»
Minister Manjani, Mr. Dervishaj, ladies and gentlemen, good morning! It’s very appropriate that today is the International Day of Social Justice and Albania is in the midst of its most important reform since the fall of communism—justice reform. As some of you heard first hand from Secretary Kerry on Sunday, the fight for more accountable …
Read More»
Your Excellency Mr. Prime Minister; Director Shehaj; ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Last year, our friends at the Ministry of Finance and the Tax Directorate asked us for assistance as they sketched out a far-sighted plan to fight informality and transform Albania’s revenue collection system. Our answer was that we were happy to do it …
Read More»
Thank you very much. I also just want to take a few words. I know you’ve been here all morning and I don’t want to take up any more of your time. But I just want to say a few words on behalf of the U.S. Embassy to thank Mark Crawford, the President of the …
Read More»