— IMF undertakes to help Albania even more — — PRESS CONFERENCE BY MR. SALI BERISHA AND MR. KAMDESY — Yesterday, in one of the halls of the «Palace of Receptions», the President of the Republic, Mr. Sali Berisha, and the IMF Director, Mr. Kamdesy, held a press conference on Albania’s relations with the IMF. President Berisha, who spoke first, emphasized that Mr. Kamdesy’s visit represented a very important event in Albania’s relations with international organizations, and with the IMF in particular. Thanking the distinguished guest, Mr. Berisha noted that this visit was taking place at a time when Albania had firmly embarked on the path of reform. Without the considerable assistance of the IMF and other international institutions during this difficult period of transition from dictatorship to democracy, Albania would have risked becoming Ethiopia, and democracy would not have prevailed. It was precisely this assistance that enabled Albanians to secure the victory of 22 March and to begin economic reform. «Being convinced,» Mr. Berisha continued, «that democracy without a market economy is merely an empty notion, Mr. Meksi’s Government, with the assistance of the IMF, drew up the economic reform program and signed the stand-by agreement with the IMF. For its part, it has undertaken to implement this reform, finding sufficient understanding and tolerance with the Albanian government.» Referring to foreign debts, Mr. Berisha emphasized that we had inherited foreign debt amounting to 500 million dollars, the result of the deals and swindles of the communist government. Nevertheless, we will respect the rules governing the international banking system while also seeking the IMF’s assistance in finding an honest and reasonable solution to these problems. As Mr. Berisha made clear, discussions with Mr. Kamdesy included the project for medium-term cooperation with the IMF. Mr. Kamdesy assured him that intensive work was under way on this project and that, if the reform proceeded as forecast during this year, the medium-term program would be implemented starting next year. Speaking about determination in implementing the reform, Mr. Berisha emphasized that the reform was regarded as an important, cross-party institution in Albania. We see the establishment of a market economy as the most decisive battle in building a democratic society in Albania, as well as a means of achieving stability, which is also in the interests of all our neighbors. Regarding the debate held on Albania’s position on the situation in the region, Mr. Berisha once again made it clear that everything possible would be done to resolve the conflict peacefully. «We insist that a just resolution of the Albanian question must be one of the priorities of international policy, but on the basis of the principles of the London Conference.» At the end, President Berisha emphasized that Albania would continue implementing the reform with determination, in cooperation with the IMF. Mr. Kamdesy, who spoke next, once again emphasized how pleased he was to visit Albania. «I am pleased to observe,» he said, «the progress of reform in Albania. Thanks to the government’s support, Albania will soon emerge from three fatal conditions: totalitarianism, a rigid economy—» sufficient understanding and tolerance with the Albanian government.» During the first three months of the reform, Albania has strictly adhered to the principles set out in the agreement with the IMF. Mr. Berisha further emphasized that the discussions held with Mr. Kamdesy showed that there were some positive initial developments that encouraged its continuation. Nevertheless, some minor adjustments are necessary, especially in the cities. The standard of living has undoubtedly declined, but the coming period will be one of large-scale privatization. The main pillar will be privatization in agriculture, transport, industry, construction and all other fields. The IMF will undertake to help Albania through the stage of completing the process. Other issues discussed, Mr. Berisha continued, included Albania’s domestic and foreign debts. Debts between enterprises have become a major obstacle to their continued activity. Assistance has therefore been requested from the World Bank and the IMF, which have promised to send a joint team to Albania to help resolve this problem. conditions: totalitarianism, an artificially rigid economy, and isolation. I observe,» Mr. Kamdesy continued, «that democracy in Albania has been firmly established, and the program implemented with your government has created the necessary potential for carrying out the reform. Albania has opened its doors, and it is gratifying to see that the international community has responded positively to this opening. President Berisha is right when he says that democracy without well-being risks becoming an empty notion, but a market economy without democracy is also something empty. The government must make an effort to explain that prosperity does not come immediately after democracy is achieved. Problems cannot be put right in 50 years. The economy takes time to develop, and investors need time to come. The government’s objectives and practice give hope that progress will follow. Meanwhile, according to Mr. Kamdesy, the IMF is supporting a medium-term program that will continue the stand-by program that has begun in Albania. We are determined,» Mr. Kamdesy said, «that

On Wednesday morning, President of the Republic Sali Berisha received at his headquarters a delegation of parliamentarians from the Parliamentary Assembly of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization «NATO», and members of the CSCE Subcommittee on Civilian Affairs, headed by Mr. Ruperes. At the reception, President Berisha briefed them on the progress of the reform, which has produced its first positive results. In its relations with NATO, Albania, he further emphasized, should not be treated like other countries, because it has never posed a threat to the Western world; indeed, it has also been its defender. Unlike other countries of Eastern Europe, Albania has not been part of the Warsaw Pact since the 1960s. President Berisha also spoke to them about his and the government’s great commitment to respecting the rights and freedoms of the individual in Albania. In fact, Albanians today enjoy all the fundamental freedoms and individual rights guaranteed by the Helsinki Charter. Nevertheless, human rights are a broad issue that deserves constant improvement. We would welcome the assistance of the CSCE and its committees in these areas, but we are surprised by the positions of certain individuals who come to Albania and, in the name of Helsinki, defend common criminals, misinform international public opinion by claiming that there is no freedom of the press in Albania. The truth is that attacks in the press here are among the most unfounded and most vicious in Europe, and no one has suffered, or will suffer, any consequences, because this is a transition in Albanian journalism, just like the other shadows of society that we have experienced. The parliamentarians replied to Mr. Berisha that they greatly appreciated Albania’s position and the achievements of democracy here. They also expressed the wish that Albania obtain observer status in NATO’s Parliamentary Assembly. They praised the achievements in the field of human rights, while, regarding the opinions of certain groups, they said that these were private groups that did not represent Helsinki and should not be taken into consideration.

The day before yesterday, the Albanian parliamentary delegation headed by Mr. Pjetër Arbnori, Chairman of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, returned home. As previously reported, it had taken part in the proceedings of the 44th session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. At the conclusion of its visit, the Albanian parliamentary delegation attended the proceedings of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Economic Affairs and Development. At this meeting, Mr. Arbnori asked the committee to hold an extended working meeting in Tirana in mid-December of this year, a proposal that was welcomed by the committee. Representatives of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (E.B.R.D.) will also take part in this meeting. The delegation also held meetings with a large number of European parliamentarians, as well as with heads of committees of the Council of Europe, including the Committee on Relations with Non-Member States of the Council of Europe, the Committee on Minority Issues, the Committee on Political Affairs, the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights, and the Venice Commission «Democracy through Law». PRESS AND INFORMATION OFFICE OF THE PEOPLE’S ASSEMBLY

«PEOPLE GO, IDEAS REMAIN»; «LYNCHING AND LYNCHING»; «THE SQUANDERING OF DEMOCRACY» «PEOPLE GO, IDEAS REMAIN». I begin this article, not by chance, with a well-known maxim which, I think not by chance, was a favorite saying of John Kennedy, the young man who sat in the American presidential chair. There is also something prophetic in its content, connected with Kennedy’s premature death and the continued relevance of his ideas of human integration and elevation to the level of the most distant modern [text unclear], a demiurge of modern times. And, not by chance, the first political prisoner freed by democracy was Free Thought. For it was against it that the dictatorship began its first political trial and handed down its first death sentence; it created its first mechanism of violence, the suppression of thought, and institutionalized it to such a degree that it caused the mass extermination of free thought and its disciples. And so, it destroyed those gigantic structures, far removed by violence, where [text unclear], enlightened human [text unclear], was transforming Carlos Fuentes—is that accidental? Unitarian model: «For, I took them», and therefore also [text unclear] fragmented «…», impoverished and destroyed that nation along with its true intellectuals. …Ignorance and its disciples declared «argumentum bacilium» (the argument of the club, of violence) to be the basic argument of the fundamentalist Stalinism of Enver Hoxha, one of the most monstrous and inferior offspring that could have been conceived in a woman’s womb! Allow me on this occasion to paraphrase: dictators leave, people remain! LYNCHING AND LYNCHING The first legalized democratic license was for the crime against the innocent world of thought, of the confrontation of ideas and viewpoints, which, under the constraints and violence inflicted on them for 50 years, had no chance to develop and ultimately remained [text unclear] with resentment and corruption. A current that had long been in darkness, when it emerges after a long time into hardship, finds it difficult to [text unclear] for democracy; on the other hand, [they] tried, with an arsenal of every means of violence, mobilizing all anti-democratic and anti-national contingents, to attempt and carry out the communist «replica» of the bitter fruits of premature democracy. It is human nature that, when victims and persecutors find themselves facing one another, one side seeks revenge and the other seeks forgiveness. …[text unclear]. I would say that it is a mark of national humanity and a virtue that, to this day, there has not been a single instance of revenge by the victims of the class struggle, while dozens of «decrees» granting pardons in the name of democracy have been announced in the democratic press. Just as it is a sign of communist barbarity and confirmation of evil and crime that there is not a single instance, not even a sign, of persecutors asking forgiveness. On the contrary, …and this is a nauseating irony: it is precisely those who complain most about «human rights violations» who are, in fact, continuing the class struggle in a moderated form. There is no comparable precedent in the history of the world press: «ZP»’s outpouring of resentment and dissemination of lies has become an institution, with the aim of denigrating democracy.

— DP meeting held in Laç — On the afternoon of 30 September, a meeting of the DP branch of Laç was held in one of the halls of the «Xhevdet Doda» Palace of Culture. Attending the meeting were Mr. Tomorr Dosti, the Party’s secretary-general, Mr. Rushen Golemi, and Mr. Engjell Hysenbegasi, a member of the DP Steering Council. Mr. Mal Berisha, chairman of the DP branch in Laç, opened the meeting and announced the agenda, which was an analysis of the work carried out during the 26 July election campaign. Mr. Pjetër Zej, secretary of the DP branch in Laç, read the report, which provided an in-depth analysis of the election campaign. The Laç district is the only one in the Republic where, in all three [text unclear] contests, as well as in the city municipality, DP candidates won. After the report was read, those present asked numerous questions, which Mr. Mal Berisha answered accurately. Questions? Mr. Tomorr Dosti asked, «What is being done to help provide housing for former political prisoners in the Laç district?» He replied that funds had been allocated for the construction of 200–300 residential apartments. After him, Mr. Tom Lala praised the good work done by the DP leaders in Laç during the campaign period. He also criticized some officers of the Laç district public [text unclear]. Mr. Besnik Draci focused on the DP’s poor work at the center after the elections of 22 March. In his speech, Mr. Pashk Hisku stressed the need for a great deal of work to avoid falling into the same [situation] after the very positive results of the 26 July elections. At the end, [he] called for … proper distribution of the press; Mr. Sami Metalla spoke. (Continued on page 4)

«Being convinced,» Mr. Berisha continued, «that democracy without a market economy is merely an empty notion, Mr. Meksi’s Government, with the assistance of the IMF, drew up the economic reform program…»

To begin, I want to tell you that I am very happy to be here and to see the rebirth of a country, the rebirth of your country as it emerges from the long night of the previous period and once again has opportunities for development, growth and improvement in human conditions, which it had lost for such a long time. And I admire the fact that your Government and your people understand clearly that this cannot happen in a day, that this winter will be difficult, that there will be problems again, and that the economic engine starts moving more slowly than the democratic one. Albania has its natural and necessary place in the human family, so, as the head of an international financial institution, I am happy to tell you that we are here to support your efforts. I think that, with the program drawn up last month, Albania has already taken a great step toward showing the world that it is on the right track. I was very pleased to confirm to your Government that external financing for your country during the period in which this program is implemented will be secured, provided that you implement the program rigorously. I am personally very moved to tell you this, because I know that life in Albania will remain very difficult for some time yet. Thus, after my first day here and my conversation with your Foreign Minister, I can tell you that I am optimistic about your country, and I am happy to see that it has opened its doors and windows and is entering the great human family. I know that the role Albania will play in contributing to peace and the peaceful resolution of problems in the Balkans is a very important one. If Albania did not take such a position, I would be seriously concerned about the dangers threatening the Balkans. For this reason as well, we greatly value Albania’s responsible position,