President Berisha began his visit to the USA
Berisha: I am very convinced that the World Bank will help Albania
Holbrooke: It was a wonderful meeting
By LORENC LIGORI EDI PALOKA
By LORENC LIGORI
EDI PALOKA
FROM THE BERISHA - BRZEZINSKI MEETING
The President of Albania, Sali Berisha, arrived the night before last in the United States at Dallas airport, on his way to Washington, accompanied by his wife, Mrs. Liri Berisha, the deputy prime minister and minister of finance, Dylber Vrioni, the foreign minister, Alfred Serreqi, ministers, the American ambassador to Albania, Entoni Lejk, and other officials.
Upon arriving in Washington, President Berisha expressed his satisfaction at being given the opportunity to visit the United States and meet the American President and other senior American officials.
"I am very happy to be here and I consider this visit a very special occasion, an occasion on which I will discuss with President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Uoren Kristofër, Secretary Peri, Senator Bob Doll, Congressman Gilman and many other people and officials of the USA, cooperation, the expansion of cooperation between our two countries and the situation in the region. The United States has been a major supporter of the overthrow of the dictatorship and democratic developments in Albania. I think that over these 3 years there has been substantial progress in the all-round relations between the two countries and this visit comes as a peak event of that progress, to mark a new phase in future relations between our two countries. One of the main topics of our discussions with President Clinton and with other senior American officials is the problem of Kosovo and of Albanians as a whole at the airport. President Berisha had been greeted by Albania's ambassador in Washington, Lublin Dilja, senior officials of the American State Department, Kris Hill, as well as the American ambassador to Albania, Uiliam Rajerson, and a number of other officials and members of the Albanian-American community. Mr. Hill described relations between Albania and the United States as active and very good in a number of fields. He expressed his belief that these relations will go further in the future and emphasized the support that President Berisha is receiving in this regard.
This visit coincides with the active and intensive American-Balkan diplomatic efforts. American officials will discuss with President Berisha a number of regional issues, especially the situation in the former Yugoslavia. I believe that in President Berisha's meetings with American officials the issue of Kosovo will also be discussed. The situation in Kosovo, the denial of basic human rights there, have been worrying issues and, certainly, American officials will discuss with President Berisha Kosovo.
From yesterday until Friday, when he leaves the United States, President Berisha has a packed schedule. In addition to official meetings and events, President Berisha has been invited to highly prestigious receptions by the Albanian-American community.
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Monday morning in Washington for President Berisha was filled with work with the well-known analyst of international relations, the former adviser to President Carter, the renowned Zbigniew Brzezinski. The meeting took place without the presence of journalists. After the meeting, representatives of the President's press office informed that they discussed relations in the region, recent developments and the prospect of expanding Western institutions in Eastern Europe. Brzezinski highly praised Albania's request for NATO membership, demonstrating political foresight.
Brzezinski himself told the press: "We talked about democratic developments in Albania, the situation in the Balkan region and the issue of Kosovo, for its peaceful resolution."
The agenda of meetings then took President Berisha to the headquarters of the World Bank in Washington with its executive director and senior staff. This meeting also took place without the presence of journalists. After the meeting President Berisha and the Executive Director of the WB for Central and Southeastern Europe, Mr. Kemal Dervish, when asked by the Albanian press stated:
President Sali Berisha: "I had open discussions with the board of directors of the World Bank. The main issues focused on were Albania's request for cooperation between IDA and IFC, and between the commercial sector and the low-interest credit sector, for the renewal of infrastructure in Albania. The board of directors was very pleased with the way Albania has proceeded with the projects, with its successes in Albania. On the other hand, our request was very interesting. Another request of ours was greater assistance for the renewal of the banking sector, a sector which is a fundamental pillar of the economy. I asked the World Bank for help for the banking press as well, so that it can be helped to study and absorb market economic concepts, so that journalists can explain, naturally while preserving the critical spirit, accurately the achievements of economic reform and its shortcomings."
When asked whether he was optimistic that the WB would help Albania in the future, President Berisha replied: "I am very convinced that the World Bank will help Albania. Very important is the cooperation of IFC and IDA with the renewal of Albanian infrastructure. This is one of the first cases in which this institution will carry it out. I hope the board of directors will encourage IFC to cooperate with IDA and we are sure it will be quite successful. As you know, IDA is strongly engaged in regulating procedures; I asked that the diversity of projects be preserved, because in a life it is possible to create only one kind of project. We asked for greater commitments. I have great [commitment?] with the WB that are waiting to be invested in Albania. There are hundreds of millions of dollars that will be used for investments in electrical energy, the renewal of water supply and drinking water, etc. IFC cannot fail to be fully engaged in Albanian infrastructure, which means a very large financial commitment."
Asked whether he received a concrete response for the banking system, President Berisha stressed: "Yes. I received a concrete response. There will be assistance for the banking system. IFC was the first to engage in Albania for the establishment of the stock exchange. I have just visited the World Bank's foreign exchange room. Albania has a bitter history of foreign exchange, but that does not mean that foreign exchange is an illegal procedure, especially when carried out under conditions of financial discipline. I think Albania should study this procedure.
Kemal Dervish: "When asked by "RD" about the meeting with President Berisha, he stressed: "It was a cooperation meeting, but its special feature was that prominent figures of the WB, including representatives of WB-USA, Holland, etc., had the opportunity to contact President Berisha directly and to devote the discussions to a personal level. Therefore it was a special meeting and we are satisfied. The WB program in Albania continues. It is a long-term, 40-year program, a very large amount of money for Albania's development. The program includes 3-4 projects per year. They will be bigger because now we have a joint project. We want to give priority to large infrastructure projects. When asked by "Koha jonë" whether the World Bank has any political condition or demand toward Albania, Mr. Dervish replied: "We are interested in our projects, which we are working on together. The projects are going very well. We hope that economic stability will continue in the coming years. We have confidence."
For lunch, President Berisha was invited by Secretary of State Uorren Kristofër. The meeting was attended by undersecretaries Piter Tarnoff and Holbruk. After the meeting, Deputy Secretary of State Holbruk said: "It was a wonderful meeting. We had wonderful discussions. We dealt with relations in the region. President Berisha fully supported American policy. We had long discussions on Albanian-American relations. On the issue of Kosovo we once again reaffirmed President Clinton's statement."