Dear friends,
Esteemed entrepreneurs, guests from our brotherly and friendly country,
arkadaşlar,

There is a wise saying in both our nations: “It takes two hands to clap.”

Today, Albania and Turkey are those two hands clapping together for a history of friendship that has never faltered, for a partnership that grows stronger every day, and for a horizon that opens ever wider before us.

Ten years ago, together with President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, we set a simple objective: to double our trade exchanges.

Today, we have gone far beyond that.
From 250 million euros, to over 1 billion in just the first nine months of this year.
From 300 enterprises with Turkish capital, to more than 1,000 today.
From a few hundred employees, to 15,000 now working in Turkish enterprises in our country.

But what matters more than the numbers is the spirit, the will, the sense of belonging in this friendship that has built this bond: a spirit of trust, a spirit of respect, a spirit of cooperation that delivers results.

Albania today is no longer the closed island once described.
Albania today is an open country, a beautiful island of opportunities—an island where you can multiply your investment not in many years, but in just a few. With very low taxes, with green energy, with a fast-growing tourism sector, with technology advancing every day, and with a market that welcomes Turkish entrepreneurship with open arms.

This year alone, 300,000 tourists from Turkey chose Albania—an extraordinary figure if you consider that not many years ago, they could be counted on the fingers of one hand.

As another saying we share reminds us: “Appetite comes with eating.” So come—let us work together for success, let us seize it, and let us enjoy it together.

Today, Albania is Turkey’s closest gateway to the European Union.

Albania today is a reliable partner in security, in energy, in tourism, and in technology.
The Albanian government is more than just a friendly government of a friendly country—it is a strategic partner of a nation bound to Turkey in a strategic alliance.

Albania today has a government ready to welcome, to listen, to assist, and to guarantee every investment so that it becomes a success story.

Ten years ago, we took a step forward, and today we can see the distance we have traveled from the past thanks to that very step.

Today, in fact, we have a bridge firmly rooted in the future. Our objective is to once again double our trade exchanges and tomorrow to build a true highway of success between the Bosphorus and the Adriatic. Because this relationship is not only about economics, this relationship is about brotherhood, about trust, about a shared journey toward the future.

The bridge that today connects Istanbul with Tirana is stronger than ever.
The bridge that today connects official Turkey, Ankara, with official Tirana is stronger than ever.

A bridge that brings East and West closer and faster through Corridor 8 and the new Port of Durrës; but also, a bridge that connects history with the future, that links hope with opportunity, that unites reflections of the past with the ambition of tomorrow.

Albania and Turkey speak the same language—the language of work and the language of results. Therefore, let us look to the future as something we must seize together, through a joint journey where every investment, every project, every dream becomes the reason for new applause in our shared history.

Thank you!
Teşekkür ederim!
Long live the friendship between Albania and Turkey.