AP Interview: Albania’s leader defends Kushner-linked luxury development

AP Interview: Albania’s leader defends Kushner-linked luxury development 0 seconds of 1 minute, 12 secondsVolume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Albanians hold 10th of protest in Tirana against tourism project linked to Trump's son-in-law 01:29 Subtitle Settings OffEnglish(US)_v Font Color White Font Opacity 100% Font Size 100% Font Family Arial Character Edge None Edge Color Black Background Color Black Background Opacity 50% Window Color Black Window Opacity 0% Reset WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25% 200%175%150%125%100%75%50% ArialCourierGeorgiaImpactLucida ConsoleTahomaTimes New RomanTrebuchet MSVerdana NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop Shadow WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% 00:00 01:12 01:12 More Videos 01:29 Albanians hold 10th of protest in Tirana against tourism project linked to Trump's son-in-law 00:34 Protests continue in Albania over tourism project linked to Trump’s son-in-law 00:53 Prime minister and Serbian opposition leader vote in Kosovo elections 01:12 The top photos of the week by Associated Press Photojournalists 01:03 Iran soccer players step up preparations ahead of World Cup 00:39 Bayeux Tapestry exchange with UK 'political, cultural and symbolic', French culture minister says 00:29 Animals at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago gear up ahead of the World Cup 01:11 Voters in Kosovo will head to the polls this weekend for the third time in 18 months Close 1 of 7 | Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is vowing to press ahead with a massive coastal development linked to Jared Kushner, U.S. President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, despite a surge in protests against it. (AP video shot by: Florent Bajrami) More Videos 0 seconds of 1 minute, 29 secondsVolume 90% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard ShortcutsEnabledDisabled Shortcuts Open/Close/ or ? Play/PauseSPACE Increase Volume↑ Decrease Volume↓ Seek Forward→ Seek Backward← Captions On/Offc Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreenf Mute/Unmutem Decrease Caption Size- Increase Caption Size+ or = Seek %0-9 Next Up Protests continue in Albania over tourism project linked to Trump’s son-in-law 00:34 Subtitle Settings OffEnglish(US)_v Font Color White Font Opacity 100% Font Size 100% Font Family Arial Character Edge None Edge Color Black Background Color Black Background Opacity 50% Window Color Black Window Opacity 0% Reset WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25% 200%175%150%125%100%75%50% ArialCourierGeorgiaImpactLucida ConsoleTahomaTimes New RomanTrebuchet MSVerdana NoneRaisedDepressedUniformDrop Shadow WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% WhiteBlackRedGreenBlueYellowMagentaCyan 100%75%50%25%0% Auto1080p1080p720p540p360p270p180p 00:00 01:29 01:29 More Videos Close 2 of 7 | Thousands of Albanians on Tuesday marched through the capital Tirana against a tourism development project linked to US President Donald Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. (AP video shot by Florent Bajrami) 3 of 7 | Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama listens to a question during an interview with The Associated Press in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli) 4 of 7 | Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama speaks during an interview with The Associated Press in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, June 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli) 5 of 7 | Protesters take part in a rally in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, against the construction of a massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at Narta lagoon area, western Albania. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli) 6 of 7 | Protesters take part in a rally in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, against the construction of a massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at Narta lagoon area, western Albania. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli) 7 of 7 | Protesters take part in a rally in Tirana, Albania, Tuesday, June 9, 2026, against the construction of a massive coastal development project linked to Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump at Narta lagoon area, western Albania. (AP Photo/Hameraldi Agolli) By ZANA CIMILI Updated 4:50 AM MESZ, June 10, 2026 Add AP News on Google Add AP News as your preferred source to see more of our stories on Google. Share Share Facebook Copy Link copied Print Email X LinkedIn Bluesky Flipboard Pinterest Reddit Tirana, Albania (AP) — Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama is vowing to press ahead with a luxury development linked to U.S. President Donald Trump ’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, despite a surge in protests against it there. In an interview with The Associated Press on Tuesday, Rama dismissed environmental objections as the result of misinformation and said the development was turning Albania from a country once ignored by investors into one “where the big capital wants to come and the big investors want to come.” The government says the development would be transformational for the former communist nation as it seeks to enter the high-end tourism market and pushes for European Union membership. But thousands of demonstrators have joined daily protests outside Rama’s office in the capital, Tirana — including on Tuesday — against the planned project that includes hotels, apartments, villas and a marina for yachts. The prime minister said a formal environmental impact assessment has not started, even though work has begun to clear land inside a nature reserve. Asked if he might step back from the project, Rama refused, adding, “Step back from what?” Albania’s anti-corruption agency has opened an investigation related to the project. The government says the land is privately owned, but rival claims over its privatization have emerged. What to know about the growing opposition to Trump family-linked resort in Albania Eric Adams, former 'international mayor' of NYC, becomes an honorary Albanian citizen Trump dispatches Witkoff and Kushner to Pakistan for new talks with Iran's foreign minister ‘Your country’s absolutely stunning’ Rama said Kushner’s proposal began by chance. He recalled a dinner in southern Albania with Kushner, his wife, Ivanka Trump, and friends who had stopped in the port of Durres to refuel their boat on the way to Montenegro. Months later, Kushner approached him at a gathering of world leaders and business executives in Davos, Switzerland, and expressed interest in investing in Albania, Rama said. “Your country’s absolutely stunning, and we would like to look for a chance to invest,” Rama recalled Kushner telling him. An investment firm linked to Kushner has been granted special investor status by Albanian authorities. The luxury project has two components: a coastal development in the Narta Lagoon area, which is a wildlife reserve, and a smaller resort on the nearby uninhabited island of Sazan, a communist-era military base. Work has already begun to clear land inside a nature reserve used by migratory birds, prompting environmental groups to warn of the destruction of long-preserved habitats. Albania has 450 kilometers (280 miles) of coast that remained largely underdeveloped during decades of harsh communist rule. Rama said a formal environmental impact assessment has not started because the plan for the development has not been finalized. He said international architects and environmental specialists are still shaping the proposal. “When it comes to the environment, there is no project yet, there is no environmental impact assessment yet, because this is still a planning process,” he said. He argued that Albania has a strong conservation record, pointing to bans on hunting and logging that he said helped flamingo populations recover. “We have fantastic documentation of how the wildlife in Albania came back thanks to the 10 years moratorium of hunting,” Rama said. Since late May, excavators and other heavy machinery have entered the planned development area, opening access routes, digging into the sand, clearing land among pine trees and installing fencing. The prime minister suggested that some of the backlash to the project was being amplified by outside interference, citing what he described as a long-running Iranian cyber campaign against Albania. Albania has long accused Iran of backing hackers who attack the country’s cyber infrastructure, after Albania sheltered members of an Iranian opposition group. Tehran has denied the allegations. “There is a lot of manipulation. There is a lot of half-truths that become bigger and bigger lies by the hour,” he said. He emphasized that he was not accusing individual protesters of acting as foreign agents.