TIRANA – Albanian Speaker of Parliament, Ilir Meta along with the Chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee met with the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Commission in the Finnish Parliament and former Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen in Helsinki, on Thursday, ATA reports.
The Speaker of Parliament Meta praised Finland and the Finnish Parliament for the continuous support to EU integration process of Albania and other countries in the region underlining the importance to concretely intensify parliamentary and economic cooperation between the two countries.
The Chairwoman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Arta Dade, expressed willingness to strengthen cooperation between the two parliamentary foreign affairs committees, especially in such significant global developments affecting Europe.
Whereas the Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Finnish Parliament and former Prime Minister, Matti Vanhanen, praised the political relations between Albania and Finland as very good and expressed the Finnish support to Albania’s advancement towards EU membership.
Both interlocutors, Meta and Vanhanen, shared the conviction that the two parliaments should increase contacts and urge a common agenda of cooperation in the fields of education, technology, tourism and human resource exchanges.
In conclusion Meta and Vanhanen gave a press release.
Speaker of Parliament, Ilir Meta, said that “It was immensely satisfying to him and to the chairwoman of the Foreign Committee, Mrs. Dade meeting with an extraordinary Finnish political personality, currently Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee and former Prime Minister of Finland, Mr. Vanhanen, as well a presidential candidate to the upcoming presidential elections.”
Meta also reaffirmed the very good political relations between the two countries and the importance of enhancing them in the interest of bilateral relations, and the region’s stability as well thus extending an invitation to Mr. Vanhanen to visit Albania.
In his part, Matti Vanhanen said that “The visit to Finland was an indicator of the excellent relationship between the two countries wishing success in the path towards European integration and EU membership. Finland always supported the accession prospect of Balkan countries to the EU.”
Mr. Vanhanen expressed gratitude to the invitation to come to Albania saying that he would consider it with great pleasure.