About 70.000 Albanian citizens living in Canada will benefit from retirement following the agreement between the two countries. With 100 votes in favor, the Albanian parliament approved the law that represents the eleventh agreement of this type between the Country of Eagles and other nations of the world.
"The ratification of this agreement creates the possibility of obtaining pensions for about Albanian 70.000 living and working in Canada, as well as for Canadian citizens who come to work in Albania as employees in mining or energy companies.
Under the agreement, employees will not lose even a single day of paid contributions, regardless of where they worked."- declared during the discussion of the law in parliament the minister of the economy Anila Denaj, who also specified that the Albanian citizens will receive the pension even if they had to decide to return to live at home.
The agreement between the two countries had been signed last 1 May by the Canadian foreign minister - Chrystia Freeland - and by the Ambassador of Albania in Canada, Ermal Muça.
Albania-Italy: pensions agreement stalled
The last of these agreements was signed with Germany in the 2017, while an agreement has not yet been reached with Italy where thousands and thousands of Albanian citizens live and work.
An attempt was made last February by the senator of the PD Tommaso Nannicini, who had proposed an amendment that allocated 20 million for the signing of a bilateral convention between Italy and Albania concerning pensions.
Despite this, the proposal - although passing the scrutiny of the budget committee - was not approved by the parliamentary majority in the work commission.
In this sense, the Albanian community in Italy is signing and sharing a petition - which today includes almost 7000 signatures - concerning precisely the mutual recognition of pensions between Italy and Albania, to give the two countries a "push" to reach an agreement and not allow that the thousands of Albanian citizens living in Italy lose their right to a pension.
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