Invited by US President Clinton, President Sali Berisha is leaving for the United States. On 11–13 September, during his stay in Washington, President Berisha will meet President Clinton and Vice President Gore; meetings are also planned with Secretary of State Christopher, Secretary of Defense Perry, Secretary of the Treasury Rubin and other senior officials of the American administration. At the United States Congress, meetings will be held with the Senate Majority Leader, Senator Dole, and the chairman of the House International Affairs Committee, Mr. Gilman, with the Albanian Affairs Group, as well as other members of parliament. During his stay in Washington, President Berisha will also speak with the leadership of the World Bank and with the Director of the International Monetary Fund, Mr. Kamdesy. The program also includes meetings with American institutions, organizations and companies such as OPIC, AID, the Republican Institute, the Democratic Institute, the Heritage Foundation, Occidental Petroleum. President Berisha will deliver a speech at the Statesmen’s Forum of the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In the program that President Berisha will carry out in Boston on 13 and 14 September, laying a wreath at Fan Noli’s grave is planned, as well as a meeting with the Albanian-American community of that city and of the New England region. On 14 and 15 September President Berisha will stay in New York, where he will meet with the Secretary-General of the United Nations Boutros Ghali, with the Administrator of UNDP James Speet i and will take part in an expanded meeting with representatives of American business and with the Albanian community there. A speech by the President at the Council on Foreign Relations is also planned in New York.

As part of the training activities of the Partnership for Peace under the bilateral program between the Albanian army and the American army, another joint Albanian-American exercise, “Eagle of Peace,” will begin. As announced by the spokesman of the Ministry of Defense, the first contingent of American troops arrived yesterday in this framework. In the next phase, the participating personnel and the necessary equipment for carrying out this important exercise, significant for the large number of participating forces and for its complex nature, will arrive. The Eagle of Peace exercise will reach its peak in Dynamics from 15 to 18 September. By 21 September, the training process will be completed and the American troops participating in this joint exercise will leave. ATSH

At the regular press conference held the day before yesterday in Prishtina, President Rugova called for international protection for Kosovo and its inclusion in global solutions for the former Yugoslavia. An independent and neutral Kosovo is the best solution and, as a transitional phase, he added, international civil administration. President Rugova highly valued the position of many Western countries, which spoke out against the colonization of Kosovo, and called on them to continue exerting pressure on the Serbian regime to force it to stop settling refugees, which is a serious provocation for Albanians and risks destabilizing the region. He assessed as very positive and reasonable the position and demands of Albania, that the Kosovo issue be placed on the agenda in international forums, and that Albania not only requests but also works in this direction, and this is quite positive and fair. He described President Berisha’s visit to Washington as a very important moment in strengthening Albania-USA relations, which, as he said, are becoming better and better. ATSH

The Albanian people, five years ago, successfully challenged the past in order to build a new future by placing knowledge and the expansion of each individual's opportunities at the center. Five years of effort spent restructuring society, the economy and politics have brought the Albanian people significant progress. It has broken down the walls of isolation and silence, and now is part of the world community. While the transition process continues to move forward steadily, the overall message is optimistic, with hope and concern. People want energetic reforms and at the same time demand that the benefits and fruits of change reach everyone. Therefore, the call to place the human being at the center of development is fundamental to the process of change in Albania. The following overview data speak of these progressive changes in the economic field.

Just like Albkromi, the chrome concentrate factory, the mines, especially the one in Bulqiza, the Ferrokrom plant is also experiencing its best days. So far, as explained by the director of the Ferrokrom plant in Burrel, Mr. Aqif Patushi, production targets have been achieved at 100%, and there are even more than 1,000 tons of ferrokrom above plan, increasing profits for the six-month period to 100 million new lek. The plant, says Mr. Patushi, has been working at full capacity since September 1994, keeping around 700 workers from the city of Burrel and the surrounding villages employed. During this year, 50 more workers were hired as a result of opening a new work front, while the wages of metallurgical workers go up to 14,500 to 15,000 lek per month, whereas the average pay today of employees of UFK in Burrel is around 12,000 lek per month. During 1994-95 important investments were made, such as the restructuring of the furnace line, with a value of 15 million USD, a sum that had never been invested before in UFK. Its economic performance has made it possible for the restructuring of another furnace to begin soon. In addition, with its own funds around 120 workers were sent on vacation, funds were allocated for housing for workers and for those who have worked here for years, etc. D.KARAJ

Regarding the postponement of the Cassation Board meeting to 20 September, the vice-presidents of the Cassation Court, Messrs. Agim Shkupi and Avni Shehu, told "RD": AGIM SHKUPI: As with the Cassation plenary, which met in July, the session was opened, but since objections were raised to becoming acquainted with the "Nano" file, the session was left to continue in September. No fixed date was set. Meanwhile, Brozi had made a statement in the press that the plenary would meet on 12 September. We told him he was mistaken because he had not consulted us at all about setting this date. The date was approaching, but we as members of the plenary still see it as impossible to continue the trial because we have not had the opportunity to complete our knowledge of the issue in question. We told the chairman to convene us in order to postpone the date. He said, you convene yourselves, I am not coming. It is not true that he knows nothing about the meeting. We were all in the meeting except Brozi, who did not want to come. It was unanimously decided that the process in question be postponed to 20 September. AVNI SHEHU: The date 12 September for postponing the Nano file was not an order from Chairman Brozi. This date was announced in writing by the former administrative director Hadëri. After that Brozi declared in the press the date 12 September as the date of the plenary meeting. In fact, we as members of the plenary had asked Brozi several times to call us on the 8th Friday. He did not ask us. Then we contacted him to set the date, since 12 September was too close and it was impossible to examine the issue. “You make the meeting yourselves, because I am not coming.” That is what he told us; with his delay, Mr. Shkupi informed us that he had spoken with him. The meeting was held and it was unanimously decided by Brozi, they were of the opinion that the continuation of the hearing should be postponed to 20 September. We also informed Brozi of this meeting decision, but he refused to sign it. It is not true that he knows nothing about such a meeting, everything.

Yesterday morning, Minister of Foreign Affairs Alfred Serreqi received the Romanian Minister of Defense, George Tinke. At this meeting, Minister Serreqi, among other things, pointed out that although the war in Bosnia is undoubtedly the most tragic part of this crisis, the Kosovo issue is a fundamental aspect, which must be part of the overall solution together with its other elements. Albania, he continued, contributes to ensuring that the conflict does not spread further. Condemning the settlement of Serbian colonists in Kosovo, he stressed that this move heightens tensions and destabilizes the situation in the region. Mr. Serreqi underlined the importance of solving problems through multilateral security structures in Europe, which, since we were the first to sign the Partnership for Peace, is evidence of the priority importance we give to integration into Euro-Atlantic structures. The Romanian Minister of Defense George Tinke, after expressing satisfaction with the meeting and with the results of his talks with President Sali Berisha and other high-ranking Albanian personalities, stressed that military cooperation between our two countries will contribute to the further expansion of bilateral relations. Among other things, he pointed out that what unites our two countries is also the aim of avoiding a further spread of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia and of achieving a political solution to it. ATSH

NATO continued throughout the night its air strikes intended to force the Bosnian Serbs to withdraw heavy weapons from the exclusion zone within a 20 km radius around Sarajevo, a NATO command spokesman for the southern flank of Europe said yesterday, cited by AFP. The missions continue, we carried out many bombings during the night, said the spokesman. The targets designated by NATO include especially ammunition depots, communications, command posts and bridges. The spokesman spoke of an improvement in weather conditions on Saturday, as bad weather had somewhat reduced the intensity of the bombings during Friday, becoming an obstacle for NATO pilots in reaching their targets. The operations will intensify and will be very effective, the spokesman underlined.

From the heritage fund of the Socialist Party File "Shehu" From the heritage fund of the Socialist Party File "Shehu" In today's issue: SECRET Minutes of the Politburo Meeting of the Central Committee of the PPSH dated 17 and 18 December 1981 AGENDA: Analysis of the serious mistake committed by Politburo member Mehmet Shehu, regarding his son's engagement to a girl with a very bad political background Read on page 5 We inform readers that with the "Shehu File" we will continue for several more issues

1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994* Change in % in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) 9.8 -13 -28 -10 11 7.4 Industry 8.1 -20 -37 -60 -10 -2 Agriculture 14.5 -4 -21 18 14.4 6.8 Inflation (end-of-year percentage) 0 0 104.1 236.6 30.9 15.8 Inflation (annual average in %) 0 0 36 226 85 24 Broad money (annual growth in %) 15 23 104 153 75 39 Public sector balance (commitment basis) -9 -15 -31 -22 -16 -13* Broad money (ratio to GDP in %) 24 37 69 58 45 42 Unemployment (registered, in thousands) 103 133 150 190 301 261 Unemployment (registered, % of the labor force) 6.7 8.5 9.5 12 19.5 16 *estimates **without foreign financing