H.E. Mr. Qirjako Qirko:

As I mentioned, the European Union is our dream. From January of this year, Albania is a non-permanent member of the UN Security Council. We are working very closely together with our allies, specifically against Russian aggression against Ukraine. We have initiated three resolutions together with the UK and Ireland, which have joined the resolutions. We are glad that, for the first time, more than 154 countries supported these resolutions against the aggression, which is a huge achievement for all democratic countries. From 2008, Albania has also been a member of NATO. We are doing our best to fulfil our obligations in NATO and we are very active.

Historically, Albania has been an open door to everyone who is in need. From the time of the Ottoman Empire, Albanians have been ruled by their own laws. We were part of the Ottoman Empire for 500 years but we have been ruled by our own laws, which are called kanun. In this kanun, which is a kind of legislation adopted only by the Albanians, there is a specific institution called besa. What does besamean? When I give besato someone, and this person might be a foreigner or even an enemy, I will protect with my life his life and the life of his family. Because of that, for example, the number of Jewish people in Albania after the Second World War was ten times higher than it had been before the war, and the Jews were protected by the majority of the population, and the majority of the population are Muslim. We are now offering shelter and support to more than 2,000 Afghani people who left their country after the Taliban came to power.

We are also supporting more than 3,000 Mojahedin, the real opposition of Iran. Because of that protection that we are giving to the Mojahedin, the real opposition of Iran, in July my country was attacked and suffered a cyberattack initiated by Iran. Unfortunately, 95% of the services in my country operate through a mobile platform, e-Albania, and this system was shut down because of this intervention and cyberattack by four Iranian state companies. The Microsoft experts who we invited to investigate this case identified these four companies. In any case, it is a price that we are ready to pay because we think it is the right thing to do to protect people who are under attack from the Iranian regime.

In a few words, that is what I have to say in general about my country. I hope to be able to answer any questions.