Albania is in negotiations with NATO on the construction of a naval base in Porto Romano, a port under construction on its Adriatic coast, Prime Minister Edi Rama said yesterday.
He said at a press conference that Porto Romano, which is located near Durrës and is intended to be the largest port in the country, will have a commercial part as well as a military naval base, Reuters reported.
Albania will finance the entire commercial part, and has invited NATO to participate in the financing of the military part, Rama added.
"We will soon return to Brussels to continue discussions regarding our proposal ... to set up a NATO naval base in the new port of Durrës," he added.
Rama said in May that his government is also offering NATO the Pasha Liman naval base, about 200 km south of Tirana. In the 1950s, Russia set up Pasha Liman as a base to house 12 submarines near Valona. NATO is already reconstructing the Kučovo air base, about 80 km south of Tirana, which will be upgraded to the first air base of the Alliance in the Western Balkans.
Albania has been a member of NATO since 2009.
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