Rambouillet, the main reason for the dismissal?! THE PRIME MINISTER SIGNED THE DISMISSAL OF DIPLOMATIC ADVISER VLADIMIR PRELA P. 3

T. Çela While there is war in the North and international diplomacy has forgotten Albania, Albanians themselves continue to think only about leaving, from the country where, they think, investments are leaving. In fact, despite the war and other things, investments are strangely coming in. Most recently, 500 million dollars, which under an agreement signed by the Albanian government and a large group of international investment funds, will be “imported” into Albania over a ten-year period, focusing on the country’s biggest problems in the fields of healthcare, heating and electricity. The giant agreement was signed three days ago between the Albanian Government and the Swiss-American-British financial group FOREMOST INVESTMENTS, based in Switzerland, which manages the money of several large American and European companies. From this large investment fund, healthcare will receive 20 million dollars for 1999 alone, while the state budget has allocated this sector only 7 million dollars. Of these 20, eight million will go toward repairing hospitals and 12 million toward new equipment and completing their outfitting. For electricity and the reconstruction of the worn-out network, 19 million dollars are being provided this year. Then comes the lion’s share: the Italy-Albania-Greece gas pipeline system. It will distribute gas and install equipment right up to the door throughout the country, ultimately meeting all national needs—around 2 billion cubic metres of methane gas. This will put an end to Albanians’ nightmare of being cold and without electricity, while also preventing the abusive consumption of electricity for heating. During 1999, 30 million dollars will be invested in this project, 50 million next year, reaching 470 million dollars by the end of the decade. These figures are the first hopes for Albania. If Kosovo has its fate in the hands of others, our own “Rambouillet” depends on the millions of dollars that foreigners are risking by investing them in us. Without asking whether we truly deserve them…

Berisha: Albanians must fight for Kosovo’s independence... P. 2 Europe — After Kosovo, we will deal with Albania P. 4 Arrest warrant signed for the boss of “Silva” P. 5 Greece in crisis, three ministers replaced P. 13 Hafizi’s national team fans will give Slovenia a rest: With strange surnames... P. 22 Today, ARS magazine begins its prize draw SHENGEN visas and other gifts for winning readers Read page 2