“We are with you against corruption and illegal trafficking” Kristofer Hill, Special Adviser to the American President, calls the Albanian prime minister page 2

Aleksandër Çipa The UN Administrator for Kosovo, Bernard Kushner, arrives in Tirana today, marking the first official contact between our capital and the person appointed by the international community to represent official Prishtina. By virtue of this position, Mr. Kushner’s arrival in Tirana takes on its own special importance and significance. The previous evening, speaking to the serious Italian media, Kushner declared, among other things, that the situation in Kosovo, despite the problems it entails, is entirely different from what he had seen in other parts of the world, where he had served as a pioneer and founder of the international organization “Doctors Without Borders.” In that public statement, made the night before his flight to Tirana, Kushner also said through the Italian media that there is no risk of the idea of “Greater Albania” in either Kosovo or Albania. Speaking about the institutional outlook in the post-crisis country, he added that the Albanians of Kosovo are more inclined toward this kind of normality because of their past openness to the West. In making this observation, he did not fail to underline the difference between Albanians in Albania and those in the country he himself currently governs. In a single phrase, Kushner’s mission in Kosovo could, among other things, be called “Bringing institutional life.” Given its significance, today’s reception takes on the meaning of a continuing response by our official policy to the solution put forward by the international community for Kosovo. And in the context of the new spirit taking hold in regional politics, Kushner’s arrival in Tirana today gives reason to think that Kosovo cannot be left without immediate representation in the Stability Pact process. This may be why the well-known UN administrator has made a point of arriving in Tirana so soon. Meanwhile, various issues and problems have currently been identified between the two countries in the same region. According to people preparing the agenda for this visit, Kushner’s meetings with the leaders of official Tirana will, among other things, focus on institutional relations between the two capitals. In this act, Mr. Kushner is also undertaking the first initiative (since the moment the conflict in Kosovo was averted) to establish the first institutional structures for communication between the two Albanian capitals, free from prejudice by other parties. This contact is taking place precisely as the first voice of the international community, the Americans, through Clinton’s special adviser, Ambassador Kristofer Hill, conveys a message of support to Albanian Prime Minister Meta for the institutional reform he has undertaken, just hours before Kushner’s arrival. Thus, with his first arrival in Tirana, Kushner leaves open the promise of the near future: that Albanians’ comings and goings between their main Balkan homelands now have the chance to be accompanied by official legitimacy. In this vein, perhaps for the first time, Mr. Kushner may say in Tirana what is being done in practical terms to prepare institutions to overcome or resolve Kosovo’s transition. According to many diplomats, this remains the “Achilles’ heel.” This is why Kosovo’s public sees this currently appointed envoy as more than that: a real prime minister and president who holds in his hands not only their transition, but also the resolution of a dilemma of historic significance.

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At night in Kapshticë, carrying out the checks himself It was an entirely unheard-of story involving the Director General of Customs and his subordinates. Petrit Ago, newly appointed head of Customs, drove alone to Kapshticë in his own car and stayed there until the early hours of the morning, watching the passage of smuggled goods. And the result came immediately. The new head of the customs service. And the result came immediately. The new head of Customs saw with his own eyes that the customs officers were stealing. There were 10 of them, and they will all be dismissed. This is the first operation, and it was accompanied by another operation at the port of Shëngjin, where a tanker truck carrying oil was seized in connection with the much-discussed smuggling operation involving false licenses. This time, Customs’ plans seem set to break with the negative past.

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