President of the Republic Sali Berisha received the delegation of the Yugoslavia Peace Conference tasked with peacekeeping, headed by Ambassador Ahrens. The latter briefed the President on his efforts to ease tensions and reach an agreement among the ethnic groups in Macedonia. President Berisha said that a population census in Macedonia, conducted reliably and transparently, as well as the opening of Albanian-language schools, including the University, would be measures that would make a major contribution to strengthening trust between the Albanian communities and the Macedonian authorities, and would also help further improve bilateral relations between our two countries. (ATSH)

...At a press conference, the chairman of the LDK, Dr. I. Rugova, welcomed the speech by German Foreign Minister Klaus Kinkel at the United Nations General Assembly. He described as positive the request that Kosovo be placed under international auspices and that a contingent of United Nations peacekeeping forces be sent. The LDK leader also spoke positively about the speech by Albania’s Foreign Minister, Alfred Serreqi, at the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, and announced that Kosovo would be discussed again at the United Nations later on. (ATSH)

From September 20 to 30, the chairman of the DPA and chairman of the parliamentary Foreign Affairs Committee, Mr. Eduard Selami, together with the deputy chairman of the DP and chairman of its parliamentary group, Mr. Ali Spahia, visited the USA at the invitation of the American Senate. Asked about the visit, Mr. Selami told the newspaper «RD»: As is well known, America has been and remains Albania’s and the DPA’s principal supporter on the road to overthrowing communism and establishing democracy. We have valued and continue to value the assistance America has given and continues to give Albania, as one of the main factors behind democracy’s achievements and successes in Albania. America is a country that is valued above all for its very nature; we admire and support it. It is precisely for this reason—the pace of change in Albania, the optimism and hope that exist here in Albania, as well as the successes achieved—that the Americans have supported and will continue to support Albania, the DP and President Berisha even more. Our meetings covered a wide range of subjects. Since the invitation came from the Senate, the program was carried out with the assistance of [unclear]. We discussed the possibility of expanding contacts and exchanges of information between the two parties. At the American Republican Party, we had the opportunity to meet its chairman, Mr. Barbore. We had a very warm and constructive meeting, during which we provided information about the DP and the democratic processes in Albania, and were also briefed on some of the main policy directions of the Republican Party. With representatives of the State Department, analysts, specialists and diplomats, we exchanged views and extensive information concerning the policies of both countries, the progress of political reform in Albania, and so on. As at the White House, here too we presented an overview of Albania’s foreign policy and positions on the crisis in the region and on preventing conflict. The most moving meeting for us was the one held at the World Bank, one of the most important financial institutions. We met with Mr. Kemal Dervish. At this meeting, we presented not only the place of economic and financial reform in Albania, but also the Meksi government’s latest policy for the new stage it had entered. And, of course, the country’s stability throughout its territory. Without question, the most moving moment was when Kemal Dervish raised a toast, as he put it, to the country with the fastest growth in gross output in Europe this year—to Albania. According to the World Bank’s analysis, in 1993 Albania ranks first in Europe for growth in gross output, despite this following a drastic fall in gross output under the communist regime. The fact that Albania is developing in this way is extremely encouraging and significant. This is why Albania is rightly regarded in America and everywhere as a surprise and as a country worth helping even more. The meeting at the Institute for Strategic Studies with the distinguished analyst Professor Zbigniew Brzezinski, who is currently visiting Albania, was equally moving. This was not only because we were meeting one of the leading ideologues of the struggle against communism, but also a famous author, renowned for the book «The Grand Failure», regarded as one of the most comprehensive studies of the Cold War and the fall of communism, and one which personally played a special role in strengthening my anti-communist convictions. We also met with the Democratic and Republican institutes, which are well known in Albania for their particular contribution to democracy’s victory in our country. At both institutes, we discussed practical ways to expand their contribution to consolidating democratic structures in Albania. We met with the Human Rights Foundation and the «Harrilton» Foundation, with which we exchanged information and views on respect for individual rights and freedoms in Albania, the progress of reform, and so on. In conclusion, at every level and in all our meetings, we found support and assurances from America for Democratic Albania, the Democratic Party and President Berisha. Note: Mr. Spahia was not present at some meetings, as he had left for Strasbourg to take part in the proceedings of the Council of Europe session. - ...Albania is regarded in America as a surprise from the East. - Assurances of support for democratic Albania at every level. - Kemal Dervish: «Albania, Europe in 1993». … for the overthrow of communism and the establishment of democracy. We have appreciated, and continue to appreciate, successes in Albania. America is a country distinguished above all by the special role and place it gives to freedom, as the true foundation of a democratic society, and this is an achievement of America itself. America is a country where freedom, in its fullest sense, is a cult, and its forms of expression can be encountered from one’s earliest everyday interactions all the way to the pyramid of state hierarchy. A small, concrete illustration of this is the fact that every American is free to visit and enter the White House, the residence of the President of America. As is known, the Cold War placed America, together with its Western allies, at the forefront of efforts to overthrow communism. The end of the Cold War and the collapse of the communist empire have left America as the sole superpower. Its political, economic and military weight is now decisive in global politics. For democratic Albania and the PDSH, America has been, from the very beginning, one of the priorities of foreign policy. Broadly speaking, it should be said that both American administrations—the Bush administration and the new Clinton administration—have a particular willingness to help and support Albania. We observed this particular willingness to help and support democratic Albania everywhere, in all the meetings we held, from the Senate and the White House to various American institutions and organizations. Although America today, following its victory in the Cold War, has focused more on domestic policy and internal problems, within the system of recovery and expansion of America’s outlook it has been and remains a country with which we must intensify our efforts to secure further political, economic, military and diplomatic support. It is interesting to note that Albania is regarded in America as a small European country, one of the poorest, but also as a country that is politically and economically on the path to democratization and development. One of Albania’s most important foreign-policy initiatives has been undertaken at a time when it has a democratic system, and is a free and open-minded country for all. This is one of the main reasons America is among the countries seeking to provide its support, not only politically but also economically, militarily and diplomatically. but also as a country that is seen as Our meetings covered a wide range. Since the invitation came from the Senate and the program was carried out with the help of the U.S. Information Agency (to which we are very grateful), our meetings focused on the Senate and the U.S. Congress, informing them about the progress of Albania’s political, economic and legislative reforms and the problems Albania faces today both domestically and in the region. In the U.S. Senate and Congress, we held numerous meetings with senators and congressmen such as Hamilton, chairman of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, Senators McKay and Levin, Congressmen Rose, Engel, Salamon, Frost, McClosky, etc.; with representatives of the Foreign Affairs Committee, political analysts, representatives of the Congressional Human Rights Committee, representatives of the Research Institute, and others. In the meetings we held at all these levels of Congress, we received assurances of continued support for Albania as it progresses toward reform, exchanged views, and were informed about the U.S. Congress’s position on the crisis in the region and broader political developments. We were also informed about the U.S. Congress’s positions on some current issues in America, which are at such a high level between the PDSH and the two main parties in America. At the American Democratic Party, we met its political director, Mr. Craig Smith, who was standing in for the party chairman, who was in California. We informed him about the PDSH’s program, platform and way of operating, its weight and role in Albanian political life, and the problems it faces both at home and abroad. In turn, representatives of the American Democratic Party informed us about how the American Democratic Party operates at the federal, state and local levels, and about some of the problems it is facing now after the optimism and surface-level… in Albania, as well as the successes achieved in America’s joint… have supported and will continue to support Albania, the PD and President Berisha. some current issues in America.

Continuing his meetings with the foreign ministers of various countries who are in New York to attend the 48th Session of the UN General Assembly, Foreign Minister Alfred Serreqi met on Thursday with Belgian Foreign Minister Vili Klaes. The meeting reviewed Albania’s democratic achievements in areas including the market economy and respect for human rights. Vili Klaes, who is also President of the Council of Ministers of the European Community, emphasized the European Community’s determination to strengthen cooperation with Albania in political, economic and other fields, and to encourage Albania’s progress. The two ministers discussed at length the situation in the former Yugoslavia, the efforts the international community should make to prevent the conflict from spreading south, the issue of sanctions against Serbia, and so on. At the meeting between the Albanian Foreign Minister and his Dutch counterpart, Piter Koimans, they noted the worsening situation in Kosovo following the termination of the CSCE observers’ mandate. After discussing the importance of an international solution to the crisis, the Dutch foreign minister expressed particular interest in Albanian President Sali Berisha’s six-point plan for resolving the Kosovo issue. The European Community’s efforts to stop the war and achieve peace in Bosnia, and the importance of the presence of CSCE monitors in Kosovo, were discussed at the meeting between Albania’s Foreign Minister Serreqi and Denmark’s Foreign Minister, Niels Helveg Petersen. The Danish minister expressed his government’s interest in helping Albania implement the economic programs of the democratic government. At the same time, Minister Serreqi also held bilateral meetings with the foreign ministers of Germany, Poland, Morocco, the Philippines, and others. (ATSH) … one against Serbia, etc. At the meeting with the Albanian Foreign Minister and the Dutch Foreign Minister, Piter Koinans, it was noted… (ATSH)

On Friday, a group of singers and Italian and Albanian musical ensembles, under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sports and Albanian Radio and Television, gave their first concert in our country at the stadium in the city of Durrës. Presenter Rudina Magjistari invited singer Shirli Polena and Italian singers Miki and Pino D’Angio onto the stage one after another. The concert, attended by several hundred young men and women from Durrës, was brought to a close by the Italian ensemble «Follage». The 41-year-old singer Pino D’Angio, winner of 4 gold records in various European countries, told the ATSH journalist that this group of artists would give 7 concerts in the country’s main cities.

At the University of Prishtina, in all the faculties and higher schools, the third year of work began for the Albanian University of Prishtina in private homes, after the Serbian police regime expelled it from its university premises and wanted to shut it down. It should be emphasized that the Teaching Council of the Assembly of the University of Prishtina approved the publishing plan for this year, comprising more than 70 different titles. (ATSH)

The article entitled “Një ve…” … about tax reform in Albania, published in yesterday’s issue, on page 12, was written by the Deputy Prime Minister for Finance and Economy, Robert Ç… ku.