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Italian FM in Albania to back EU membership bid

Visits tents of earthquake victims

11 December, 18:20
(ANSA) - ROME, 11 DEC - Italian foreign minister Luigi Di Maio on Wednesday was on a visit to Albania to support the country's EU membership bid. During a visit to tents set up in Vora, 20 km south of Tirana, by the Italian civil defence for those whose homes were destroyed by a November 26 earthquake, Di Maio said that ''my presence here is to bear witness, before all else, on behalf of the Italian state, once more our closeness to the Albanian community after the seismic events in recent weeks''. ''I am in Albania first of all to greet our firemen, who are helping the population after the earthquake, which caused dozens and dozens of deaths. But also to strengthen our support for Albania's EU membership bid,'' noted Di Maio, who will during the day meet in the Albanian capital with politicians. ''We have been working on this for a long time.

There was an unacceptable halt during the last EU Council meeting, and now is the political moment to strengthen our alliance and partnership with Albania for EU enlargement,'' he added. (ANSA).

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