Greek MFA to visit Tirana: reopening of negotiations on the table
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TIRANA, Albania - Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias will pay a visit to Tirana next week. The official set date for this is October 20 and the main time on the agenda will be a restart for the bilateral negotiations.
Minister Dendias spoke recently about the steps undertaken on the talks with neighboring Albania on the delineation of the maritime economic exclusive areas.
Speaking to the local Greek media Dendias said that he would like the remaining issue to be resolved soonest possible.
The Greek diplomat mentioned the signing of the deal in 2009, just before Albania’s parliamentary election from the then-government of Prime Minister Sali Berisha and Athens. The opposition of the time, the now ruling Socialist Party, took the case to the Constitutional Court which turned it down.
That heightened the remorse between the two neighboring countries.
Such an issue was raised again last month when Athens declared that it would extend its maritime border to 12 miles, from 6 miles.
Dendias mentioned that Greece has already signed recently the maritime border agreements with Italy and Egypt.
“I hope the next step will be signing it with Albania,” he added.
The Greek minister said that Athens hoped to renew negotiations with Tirana soon and achieve results from that.
“It is important that in the context of good neighborly ties and taking into consideration the European prospect of our neighboring country all the open issues be closed ... as it would be for the good of all,” said Dendias.
After the announcement for the extension of the maritime border from the Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis last month there was a reaction from the Albanian counterpart, Edi Rama, saying that there have been no negotiations with the new Greek government.
Rama suggested that the best solution would be nominating a third party to decide or taking the case to the international court.
Contextual conditions are far from ideal now that relations between Greece and Turkey are at an all time low and skirmishes on the maritime areas have been frequent. On the other side Albania is also waiting to launch the intergovernmental conference, the official launch of the membership negotiations with European Union and would not want any obstacle from Greece in that regard.
