Prime Minister Edi Rama is holding a conference regarding the project expected to be developed in Zvërnec.
He explains that interest in this project has been going on since 2023.
Rama: In this case, it is a trap for the future of Albania, that's how I see it. I also thought that day about a film that identified us when the world knew us as people with tails, not before our era, but in democracy. We became known through the film "Walk the Dog". A film producer is recruited and a fictional war between America and Albania is fabricated, all through the media, with Hollywood techniques, with false media images, like that photo with that damned barbed wire fence with that photo of what the border with Israel is like, patriotic songs and made-up heroes.
All this shifts the attention of the public. In the film, everyone comes together to save an Albanian soldier left behind in the war, it's a film. Let's move on to reality, to tell you at what points the event, the history and the appearance of the investment completely change. The project started as an interest from investors in 2023, together with Sazan.
Our position has been that Sazani is public land, there have been attempts by other governments to turn it into a tourist destination, we can work, but that land is not for sale. We have made it known that we want the Albanian state to be a partner. You consider your Prime Minister a salesman and corrupt. The corrupt gave Albania 1 euro and took the share, they did not give it to the state.
For Zvërnec you have to look at the properties of the owners, there is no state land. The pieces of the state are totally negligible in that part there. You know very well who the interested parties are because the whole world knows. The whole world is talking about this project from Jared Kushner, who has promoted this project. There has been media interest, but with an agenda.
Not for information on how much Albania is developing, but to find needles in a haystack. Investors have engaged world excellence in architecture, engineering and jurisdiction. We as a state have protected your interest and have carried out the procedure professionally and patriotically. I have seen images of the buildings and the project. The old project has been demolished by us, we have high standards and we want them.
We wanted more for you, not for ourselves. The land has been registered in mortgage for many, many years and negotiations and transactions with the owners are issues we have not entered into. We are focused on Sazani, for which we have not completed negotiations, because we are demanding a piece of the Albanian state. The enclosure was made according to the development permit. The enclosure of the property is the right of every owner when he receives this permit.