French President Emmanuel Macron met with his Albanian counterpart, Bajram Begaj, on October 17, marking the first state visit of a French president to the country.
Macron had initially planned to attend the EU-Western Balkans summit on Monday (October 16), but he postponed his visit due to the security situation in France.
Albania, along with its five Western Balkan counterparts, is actively pursuing EU membership, an objective that European Commission President Charles Michel has set for 2030.
Serbia and Montenegro were the first countries in the region to initiate EU membership talks, while Albania and North Macedonia commenced negotiations with Brussels last year. However, Bosnia and Kosovo still significantly lag behind their neighbors in this process.
(Inputs from Reuters)