Brussels, 18 December 2024 – The Partnership Agreement on Security and Defence with the European Union was signed today in Brussels, between the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, the Minister for Europe and Foreign Affairs, Igli Hasani, and the Minister of Defence, Pirro Vëngu, in the presence of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

The signing of the EU-Albania Partnership Agreement on Security and Defence is a clear reflection of the deepening of our cooperation in the face of growing geopolitical challenges and our continued alignment with EU policies on foreign affairs and defence.

Prime Minister Rama, in a joint press statement with the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Kaja Kallas, praised the European Union, for all those who, on behalf of the European Union, are working to push forward this agenda for the full reunification of Europe.

“We feel privileged because we have come a long way and you know what it means to be born and raised in a dictatorship, then to fight for freedom and then to fight to build democracy and develop society”, declared the Prime Minister.

For the EU High Representative, today’s agreement confirms the expansion of cooperation both in Europe and in the Western Balkans, while she praised Albania’s considerable progress in the accession process.

The signing of the document comes within the framework of the EU-Western Balkans summit that has begun in Brussels, and one day after the third Albania-EU Intergovernmental Conference, where the 6th negotiating group chapter: Foreign Policy, was opened.