Bulgaria’s and Albania’s common aim is to achieve security, stability and prosperity in the Balkans. To this end, we should show solidarity and compassion in hard times such as the time of the devastating earthquake in Durres. This is what President Rumen Radev told journalists during his visit to the city of Durres, which in November 2019 was hit by an earthquake which resulted in human victims, a lot of injured and big material damage.

The delegation lead by the Head of State includes Bulgarian specialists that took part in the assessment of the damage and also representatives of Bulgarian branch organizations in the construction area, who are ready to participate in the process of restoring the city of Durres. Rumen Radev said that President Ilir Meta, Parliament Speaker Gramoz Ruci and Prime Minister Edi Rama highly appreciated the Bulgarian expertise and assistance during the devastating earthquake. In the President’s words, all international groups that took part in the assessment of damage highly trust our experts.

Professor Dr. Engineer Peter Pavlov from the University of Architecture, Construction and Geodesy will present to the Albanian President Ilir Meta the proposals of the leadership of the university for providing an education, research and expert assistance to state and local educational institutions in Albania for creating a capacity for sustainable management and reducing the seismic risk. “This is important and I expect that we will work together. The Albanian side has a great interest in this proposal,” the Head of State added.

Rumen Radev emphasized that Bulgaria will actively work with the Albanian side to develop the necessary infrastructure for mountain, ski and sea tourism. “We are thinking about the distant future. Albania offers wonderful conditions for sea and mountain tourism. However it is yet to develop the infrastructure in this sphere because the boom in the tourist industry is enormous,” the President further said and noted that there were more than 6 million visits of tourists in Albania.

During his visit to Durres the Bulgarian President was accompanied by Bledi Cuci, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of Albania, who voiced gratitude to the engineering teams that provided assistance in the wake of the earthquake and explained that what is a priority now is the reconstruction and restoration after the earthquake.