In 2018 we mark the 104^th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Albania and Bulgaria and 25 years since the signing of the Agreement of friendship and cooperation between the Republic of Albania and the Republic of Bulgaria. We have walked along a similar road, going through similar challenges,H.E. Qirjako Kureta - Ambassador of Albania to Sofia, said in an interview with Radio Bulgaria.

"We view Bulgaria as a traditional economic partner and the three pillars of our cooperation are trade, direct investments and participation in regional projects and initiatives. But I must point out that the current state of our economic cooperation and trade, despite the growth, is far from the potentialthe two countries have," the Albanian ambassador said, pointing out specific figures.

In 2017 the value of Bulgarian exports to Albania reached 67.2 million euros, or just 1.4% of the country's total exports. At the same time Albania's exports to Bulgaria for 2017 reached EUR 22.8 million, or 1.1% of total exports. "These figures best show how big opportunities for increasing trade are," Ambassador Kureta said and urged Bulgarian investors to participate in international tenders for EU-funded infrastructure projects, which Albania currently has many opportunities to realize.

The situation in the field of tourismis similar - tourism exchange has been growing, but very modestly at the backdrop of that with other neighboring countries. Ambassador Kureta explains this trend with "the lack of a direct air route between Sofia and Tirana, poor road infrastructure passing through Macedonia, insufficient advertising, as well as with the fact that the two peoples do not know much about each other.” A few days ago, the diplomat had an important meeting with Minister of Tourism Nikolina Angelkova, with whom they discussed concrete steps for the modernization of the bilateral agreement in the field of tourism signed in 1995 for the establishment of a Bulgarian-Albanian Commission for Exchange of Experience in the Sector. The proposal of the Bulgarian side for development of common Balkan tourist packages, especially for tourists from Asia and the Far East has also caused interest. A forum at the level of ministers of the 6 countries of the Western Balkans is expected to be held in Tirana in April. In connection with that, Minister Angelkova has expressed readiness to initiate a meeting of the Ministers of Tourism from the region to create an international working group in order to optimize advertising of the Balkan countries and their common market.

The Bulgarian Presidency of the Council of the EU has been a major boost to political contacts between the two countries over the past three months.

"We highly appreciate the efforts of the Bulgarian authorities to achieve the goals set out in the six-month strategy of the Presidency of the Councilof the EU, in which the Western Balkans and Albania are priorities," Ambassador Kureta said.

One of the main issues linked to the "Western Balkans" priority of the Bulgarian Euro-Presidency is connectivity in the region. And this is the other big topic in relations between Bulgaria and Albania. Ambassador Kureta pointed out the strong commitment of the Bulgarian government to the implementation of projects in this area, quoting Prime Minister Boyko Borissov, according to whom the EU would allocate 1 billion euro fund to improve connectivity in the Balkans. The construction of Corridor No. 8, for example, will create many new jobs in Albania and the country has taken steps in this direction:

"Here we can speak about the construction of the road sections Tirana-Elbasan, Qukës-QafëPlloçë and Tirana-Peshkopi. Investments have been made to increase the capacity of the ports of Vlora and Shëngjin. We have been following closely our cooperation in the energy field by evaluating the opportunities for our countries to participate in joint projects. Here I will highlight the connectivity of the electrical systems of Albania and Bulgaria by extending the Elbasan - Bitola - Bulgaria interconnector line and integrating the Albanian system into the European market," Mr. Kureta added.

English: Alexander Markov