MANY QUESTIONS ABOUT PRIME MINISTER ALEKSANDËR MEKSI’S GOVERNMENT PROGRAM Yesterday, after several days of suspension, our Parliament resumed its work. The new Prime Minister, Aleksandër Meksi, presented the government’s work program on behalf of the cabinet. Deputies asked so many questions that it became necessary for the second session not to begin at 12:00, but at 15:00. The afternoon passed in lengthy debate. We hope that as soon as possible we will begin concrete work to rebuild Albania and set aside endless academic discussions.

Mr. Eduard Selami Elected Chairman of the Democratic Party On 16 April, the Extraordinary National Conference of the Democratic Party, since the former chairman of the D.P., Prof. Dr. Sali Berisha, was elected President of the Republic of Albania, voted for the new leader of the party. With 411 votes in favor out of 455 ballots, Mr. Eduard Selami was elected Chairman of the Party Presidency. He was born in Elbasan in 1961. In 1985 he completed higher studies in the field of science at the Faculty of Political and Juridical Sciences and began working as a lecturer at the University. Eduard Selami joined the student movement from its very first steps. He has been secretary of the Steering Committee and secretary of the D.P. after the Seventh Congress in 1991. Republika correspondent

DOES A MAN HAVE THE RIGHT TO DEFEND HIMSELF? Former president Ramiz Alia, chosen by the communists, closes the chapter of the communist era with a statement made in the presence of only four people: someone said he was fed up and left, someone said that as an institute clerk he perhaps thought of wiping out even the last straw by which he had been hanging on. In any case, everyone accepted as true his words that he did this for the nation. Amen! So be it! But for this, one person must suffer the most. It is impossible for someone to have swum in the sea and come out unwashed. At the very least, the former president should come out blackened. Yet all the forms, indeed this act he kept his word to at the end of the whole nation, indeed this act he kept his word to at the end of the whole nation, indeed this act he kept his word to at the end of the whole nation, indeed this act he kept his word to at the end of the whole nation [?]. In other words, an indicator of Albanian democracy on the rise. In other words, responsibility to criticism, even to open accusations. Likewise, Alia, in response to criticism, even to open accusations. Likewise, Alia, in the reply that politics of his type can hardly be of use to anyone now that politics of his type can hardly be of use to anyone now that politics of his type can hardly be of use to anyone now that politics of his type can hardly be of use to anyone now that politics of his type can hardly be of use to anyone now that politics of his type can hardly be of use to anyone now [?]. Or will he create a new party? But even here, the former communist countries are left from the left all the way to the right. Perhaps today’s studies? Naturally, each of these signatures should not be pursued for long or with effort. Time, perhaps, effort. What is today more concrete about this? That will depend on the place where he will be and, more specifically, where his place should be. The man’s place will rise to his feet and some responsibility of the communists will be supported. But he has meanwhile shown that the truth cannot be left aside. Yet it is also bad to ask. Alia shares the blame with everyone; he shares it with men. Will Alia go? He shares the blame with everyone; he shares it with men. Will Alia go? He shares the blame with everyone; he shares it with men. Will Alia go? He shares the blame with everyone [?]. Those left unjudged nationally, but you have made them escape; the wicked first. If there is one thing, it is to hold on to everything, and in the second place nothing should have been done, but it is expected that a day will come when everyone will be punished. They are all the same, and they were told that way, but nothing should have been done. It is expected that a day will come when everyone will be punished. They are all the same, and they were told that way, but nothing should have been done. It is expected that a day will come when everyone will be punished. They are all the same, and they were told that way, but nothing should have been done [?]. The former communists must be taken up; proceedings continue against the high-ranking Young Turks who committed abuses. Since this matter has remained stalled at this sensitive point, the democratic forces must put an end to this most harmful, anti-popular accommodation. This must not exclude the renewed demand regarding the hidden weapons. I do not believe it can remain unclosed that the effort made them able to make the crime greater and not to. All of them must be tried for what they have done. If Alia has not been afraid of God or of the law, he must receive the deserved punishment. In any case, they should have been brought to court for political crimes, not for theft. Alia and the democrats of his own justice dossier for those who accept cooperating with justice, perhaps should be released and favored when this is in the interest of the people. FEHAT GRUJA

“THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA” HUNDREDS OF FIRMS FLOCKED TO ALBANIA A YEAR AGO — HOW MUCH FOREIGN CAPITAL DID THEY “INSTALL”? - WHAT IS NEEDED TO ATTRACT FOREIGN INVESTMENT? - “FREE ZONES” AND THE FUTURE OF ALBANIAN COMPANIES - IS THE ALBANIAN ECONOMY COMPETITIVE? Now that political passions have subsided somewhat, and the full verdict on this nation’s adventure has been delivered, it is clear that intellectual minds will be “put to work” in a more fertile field than politics. From now on, the economic question will move to the top of the agenda so that, in order to pull the tired Albanian economy out of its coma and revive it from its bewildered state, concrete alternatives, proper solutions, logical reductions, and under no circumstances experiments, will begin to collide. This week brings a closed debate with the new Prime Minister appointed by the President, who, in his first interview and on Radio Television, laid out the “synoptic view” of the country’s future developments, making it clear that, although the ministerial portfolios have not yet been signed, the structure of the new government has already been defined, and with it the platform that will govern the future. Meanwhile, economists at least have understood that after complete economic bankruptcy, a financial element is saved, a collapse in balancing the close relationship between donations and expenditures, which necessarily must be covered by foreign loans. At the very least, they must be useful for moving the existing economy, covering the quotas, and easing rigidity, or at least, if nothing more, for obtaining 500-700 million dollars. This absorption must be secured, and as the first step, the effects of foreign investment must be fought in order to open the way for them; many firms have even been brought into bilateral agreements. These, then, are the two powerful pillars, like two legs on the same base, from which one can walk toward the full realization of reform. There is no doubt that powerful international bodies such as the UN, the World Bank, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, etc., will orient their policy toward Albania more effectively than they have up to now. What matters is that Albanians sit cross-legged to ease the procedure for absorbing generous loans, to facilitate the entry of foreign capital. Compared with other countries, ours offers two additional advantages: low daily wages and a highly suitable geographic position. With ordinary speed, the thin legal framework must be defined in order for these advantages to be felt immediately. And this must be done as quickly as possible by the new government and its elected parliament. Only this will create what is called an “investment climate.” And the role of the PR in this is important. On 18 April, faced with the dilemma of hundreds of state and private firms, we sit at the table with short television interviews, with a quick and flashy “show” in the economy and in their output; there one could also say that a program in name only, neither we nor anyone else would have had anymore. On departure, foreign firms in our language are still being dragged with effort and falseness in balancing stability. Ah yes, what is happening around and near the judgment. The world sometimes laughs with us, when it plays the prisoner’s dilemma, when we asked for investment and did not clear the path for it, when, even when we were turned green, we put sticks in the wheels, as if not knowing that before investments, business is governed by a strict language whose foundation is interest and which rests on free competition. In seeking money with the naivety of foreigners, we forgot the rule that we ourselves must be tested. So then? Should we allow? No? We must “bring closer” the advantages, on the one hand, and provide a stimulus, on the other. Will we lose what others would gain for us? The logic is simple: besides that already mentioned profitable framework, there must be legal rigor, technical respect, organization, etc. To entice the foreign investor, all the lowering of barriers is needed, clear appointments, developed private capital, a capital market, free exchange rates, a two-tier banking system, etc.; the exchange rate must also be approved quickly in laws and must “rest” on the tables of the former presidium of the People’s Assembly near 22 March of this year. Let us do these things quickly and not complain about why investments are not being made in Albania. Against the prisoner’s dilemma, the issue of creating free economic and trade zones is now also being raised, even of the so-called 18 economic zones. In a free economic zone, literally, the framework is slightly sensitive. Does the 18 include? zone? complete, this has nothing to do with the scope of the new government, which must be closely linked to the entire national economy, giving it a horizon for the creation of free zones, in the privatization plan. Dystopian? and in it? the important thing now. BARDHI SEJDARASI (To be continued on page 3-19)

Greeting for Easter TODAY IS THE EASTER OF THE RESURRECTION, SO ON THIS OCCASION WE WISH ALL CATHOLIC BELIEVERS THE JOY OF THE RESURRECTION OF JESUS. THE EDITORIAL OFFICE

TWO BANKS FACING EACH OTHER For some time now, the beautiful flowerbed in front of the State Bank has no longer sheltered its quiet peace. That once peaceful flowerbed has now become the busiest place in Tirana, after the New Bazaar. Refugees. There you can find all kinds of people: serious businessmen, consumers, money and visa traffickers, all sorts of forgers and even pickpockets. There you find street vendors, the people in miniature. Honest and dishonest alike meet at one point: foreign currency. Perhaps it is the place with the highest monetary significance in Tirana, and perhaps in the whole country. The next day, the wallets or bags of 20, 30 or 50 people probably contain more money than the pockets and passbooks of all the other residents of our capital. It is a field bank or a portable bank, as one might call it, without registers, without computers, without checks or cash vouchers, yet the accounts are kept with meticulous precision. Two banks facing each other: one imposing, monumental, magnificent; the other mobile, feverishly lively. Their contradictions. The first is closed, the second open. The first is immobile, the second alive. The first, so to speak, the maneuvering ones right down to the second, down to a tenth of a drachma. The refugees’ bank from Greece brought in a flood of drachmas. And not a small one. Millions and tens of millions. It was like a giant school of fish, stunned, swimming in no particular direction. For the fisherman, it would be enough just to cast the net. But WHO was to cast it?! -What is the dollar exchange rate these days, in drachmas? - people ask. 2.05 drachmas for one US dollar, the clerk replies dryly and indifferently, as if the matter did not interest her at all. People look at one another, disappointed. Then they glance at the “table,” where the exchange rate of currencies was posted in black and white: 1 US dollar = 185 Greek drachmas. They stand for a moment in doubt: so this is nothing special. And precisely at that moment one emerges from the other “Bank,” the one among the pines, the one that has no computers but knows how to handle its accounts well. In the bank lobby there is a short man with white glasses, wearing a small republican cap, his gaze sharp; the other is known as the businessman’s shirt. What are they after? It is an exchange deal, they told me. Why yes? Aren’t we showing the value of the drachma? They explained it through suggestions. -Whoever wants to convert drachmas, let him come. We buy dollars at 204.5 drachmas. A little money in life. But people know arithmetic. That 0.5, that half-drachma for every dollar, turns into tens of dollars in profit depending on the amount. Mr. Milto walks ahead without turning his head, sure that the whole crowd is behind him, caught by that tiny gain of 0.5 drachma, yet so alluring. He opens the door of his white car and takes from his case a bundle of brand-new dollar notes. All of them new series. So many that even the State Bank over there, with more drachmas, would have a hard time. The conversion begins. The dollars turn into drachmas. In the end, Mr. Milto remains calm. He looks pleased. In an instant he turns to his friend and says: -You can challenge the Bank. Go on. Imagine how much this man may have earned if he openly says that he is capable of challenging the bank of a state! But imagination matters less than something else: this money, these astronomical sums, have been created right here, under the nose of the Albanian State Bank. And think that there is only one Milto in this square. And think that this is only Tirana where this happens! In front of the bank counter there is a queue of people. The clerks, teachers and pensioners at the Bank do not fail to understand that the offices, the empty spaces, the stiff gaze of these people are not without meaning; the absurdity lies in the sums. “We don’t exchange less than 6 million lek just to change drachmas.” It does not take a bridge to see that, if you have a hard time fighting from “principle,” look at the work: millions and millions of drachmas in a sack, by a fast car the next day (or two days later), travel to Greece where they are converted at the rate there of 1 US dollar = 185 drachmas and then come back to this square in dollar form to reap millions more in drachmas. All this happens right under the nose of the Albanian State Bank, which heroically holds to its [principles]. Yesterday, when this matter finally caused an outcry, it reluctantly made a rather sacrificial concession: it lowered the rate by 204, and no one realizes that now it is competing with, indeed wiping out, the lively bank over there among the pines. The latter sticks out its tongue, shakes its fists in front of its nose and beside its ears. It mocks and ridicules it, and in a hopeless case it lowers the rate again by half a drachma: 203.5. And once again it snatches clients (read: millions) from the Albanian State Bank. It will take a long time, many discussions, many documents and approvals before the area around the Albanian State Bank accepts development—the second, third, fourth. Always in the role of the laggard, always in the role of the one left behind. And every time it manages to do something difficult: switch off? - that cart over by the pines has eaten a cartload. IN CONCLUSION Remember for a moment the hemorrhage of Albanian gold taken abroad by all kinds of secret and illegal means, while for years and years our Bank exchanged and bought the currency at 3,000 to 8,000 old lek. The same will happen again with gold, and with the drachma or other currencies, as long as this Bank remains static. THANOS JORGJI

NOTICE All private press distribution and sales agencies in the districts, as well as the branches of the Republican Party (where the newspaper is sold through the party itself), starting from April 1992, should deposit the proceeds from the sale of our newspaper every month to the “Editorial Office of the newspaper ‘Republika’” in account 986/10 at the branch of the State Bank in Tirana. Editorial office of the newspaper “REPUBLIKA”

Around the World Turkish security forces killed 11 leftist militants in Istanbul and 35 Kurdish rebels in the southeast in recent days, an official said. Those soldiers were killed in clashes with Kurdish guerrillas, and a kidnapped officer was found dead, they said. * * * A Ukrainian official announced that Kyiv has resumed the transfer of tactical nuclear weapons to be destroyed in Russia, bringing to an end a war that has caused deep concern in the West, Reuters noted. Snow and wind swept across mist-covered Mount Etna for the second day, delaying plans for a spectacular U.S. military operation to halt the lava flow from the volcano, but officials stressed that the situation was stable as everything kept the village of Zafarana out of immediate danger. * * * In a local army operation in Bosnia, Sarajevo, only a few hours after entering, Bosnia’s UN Cyrus Vance met with local leaders in an effort to end the fighting. The ministerial official and (To be continued on page 4-9)