Tomorrow the Albanian foreign minister at the U.S. Department of State Albanian Foreign Minister Alfred Serregi will meet U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher during his official visit to the USA on 8 May, the Foreign Ministry spokesperson announced. Minister Serregi will go to the U.S. Department of State at the invitation of U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher. The spokesperson said that the Serregi–Christopher meeting would discuss in detail bilateral relations and their further development in various fields, the situation in the Balkans, the situation in Kosovo, as well as other issues of interest to both sides.

Meeting of President Berisha with residents of the city of Pogradec and the commune of Starovë We pledge to Albanian farmers that we will create throughout the country a credit system favorable to them; therefore, I urge them not to be deceived by the Socialists, who have included in their program the progressive tax, the harshest form of taxation that exists. Likewise, the state will subsidize seeds, chemical fertilizers, veterinary services and plant protection for farmers. Yesterday, President of the Republic Sali Berisha met with residents of Starovë in the district of Pogradec. Opening the meeting, commune chairman Ruzhdi Myftallari welcomed President Berisha on behalf of the residents and mentioned some of the results achieved during four years of Democratic government. He promised that the people of this commune would vote for the Democratic Party on 26 May. President Berisha then took the floor and said: “Allow me to greet you, the Democratic residents of Starovë, and to express my deep conviction that on 26 May you will vote for the party of Albanian farmers and small entrepreneurs; you will vote for the party of freedom and human rights, for the party that turns good Albanian farmers and cooperative members, slaves of the state on their own land, into free citizens, masters of their land and property.” Referring to the DP program implemented over the past four years, President Berisha mentioned the distribution of land and title deeds to Albanian farmers, the liberalization of prices, the state’s purchase of wheat at prices higher than those in other developed countries, the introduction of a social-support system for the poor in the countryside, and investments in infrastructure, education, health care, etc. “The network of Albanian farmers,” President Berisha emphasized. “Took out loans during these four years.” Likewise, during this time we have overturned the image and bad name that the communist dictatorship had given Albania through its prisons, isolation camps and poverty. President Berisha then turned to the DP’s new program, stressing its implementation. form of taxation that exists.” To residents of the commune of Starovë, President Berisha said: “We guarantee you gravity-fed irrigation, telephone connections among the most modern in the country, water-supply systems, new schools and health centers. and plant protection for Starovë and all farmers in Albania.” Expressing confidence in victory, President Berisha said: “We will win because we deserve victory. And you, Democrats of Starovë and all Albania, until 26 May will go from door to door, from hearth to hearth, to explain what we have done together and what we will do in the future.” President Berisha then introduced the parliamentary candidate for this area, Mr Pandeli Pasko, describing him as one of Albania’s finest intellectuals. After the meeting, President Berisha visited the village mosque. Also yesterday, the Pogradec district branch of the Democratic Party launched its election campaign with a large rally in the town square, attended by more than 10,000 people and by the President of the Republic, Sali Berisha. The district DP branch chairman, Zihni Pollozhani, welcomed President Berisha to the city of Pogradec, with its outstanding patriotic and cultural traditions, and assured him that Pogradec would vote for the DP alternative in the 26 May elections. In his speech, President Berisha thanked those present for their warm welcome. “It will be for everyone the great celebration of Albanian democracy. The Democratic Party program,” President Berisha said, “is the program of the great historical responsibility of free Albanian citizens for the fate of democracy and for their achievements over these four years. It is the program for rapidly raising individual prosperity, for our final break with the poverty we inherited; it is the program of a genuine social state, employment, education, and the secure integration of Albania into the developed European continent. These are what we want and where we belong.” “The next four years will be the years of the complete privatization of the banks, energy, telecommunications, tourism, mines and our national wealth as a whole; all Albanians will benefit from this and become owners.” Referring to relations and cooperation with foreign countries and international organizations, President Berisha stressed that “we have created extensive financial resources. For the next two years,” he said, “we have secured more than 2 billion dollars to invest in water supply for towns and villages, the construction and reconstruction of roads, the electricity network, schools and hospitals. In the next four years, dozens of highly reputable companies from Europe, America, Japan and Australia have decided to invest billions of dollars in tourism and other fields, in Pogradec and throughout Democratic Albania, but not in Socialist Albania.” President Berisha then said that over the next four years “we are determined for our borders to be borders of peace and friendship with our neighbors, and for Albania to take its rightful place in Europe. We are determined to work intensively to protect the human and national freedoms and rights of Albanians wherever they are, and to resolve our national question.” Referring to the opposition’s destructive aims, President Berisha said: “The red front is threatening democracy and the country’s future by dismantling our values, denying our achievements, scorning Albanian justice, and bringing back to power those who ordered massacres and killings at the border, those who stole humanitarian aid and organized the turmoil in Pogradec, Shkodër and throughout Albania. I urge the Pogradec electorate and the Albanian electorate to despise and reject the anti-democratic alternative, or the alternative of the red front.” President Berisha expressed his conviction that the Pogradec electorate would vote for the Democratic Party alternative. The area’s parliamentary candidate, Pandeli Pasko, also addressed the rally. The DP Youth Forum’s artistic group gave those present the “Vision 2000” concert.

We pledge to Albanian farmers that we will create throughout the country a credit system favorable to them; therefore, I urge them not to be deceived by the Socialists, who have included in their program the progressive tax, the harshest form of taxation that exists. Likewise, the state will subsidize seeds, chemical fertilizers, veterinary services and plant protection for farmers.

Joint press conference Shehu–Perikard Page 3

Statements by the spokesperson of the PDSH

Statements by the spokesperson of the PDSH After the leaders of the SP misled Albanian public opinion once by claiming they had an invitation from the U.S. Department of State, and forced the latter to categorically deny and disavow any such invitation, they were compelled two days ago to acknowledge that, on this trip, they had been invited by the Mediteran Ccuaterli Foundation. The DP informs Albanian public opinion that this Foundation, in the magazine it publishes, has in several articles from 1990–94 called for the partition of Albania, while its board includes individuals who, according to authoritative Greek sources, sponsored MAVI’s terrorist actions against Albania. The foundations directing Servet Pëllumbi and Kastriot Islami to this foundation are clear proof that terrorists of every color can cooperate and get along well with one another. By informing the public about the act of the condemned Pëllumbi and Islami, the Democratic Party expresses its conviction that no Albanian will condone this irresponsible act.

The Albanian Democratic Party considers the recent actions of the Socialist Party’s criminal leaders to be part of the former State Security’s latest election campaign. The SP is trying to compensate for its loss of the electorate, lack of alternatives, criminality and political capitulation through illegal means, provocations and unconstitutional, threatening calls, with the aim of heightening the political tension in the country. To this already failed policy, the SP adds the manipulation and theft of the DP’s election information and photographs, thus showing that it is, and continues to be, a manipulator of democracy. The Albanian Democratic Party strongly condemns these provocations and acts, which run counter to the legal and moral norms of the democratic society we are institutionalizing. The Albanian Democratic Party once again expresses its full readiness and resolve to make every legal effort to ensure a fair election campaign.

Seven parties and two associations sent a petition to President Berisha - The Burrel incident was provoked by Pëllumbi, Dokle, Islami, Abdiu, and other PS genocidists - The law-and-order forces managed to prevent bloodshed competently Page 3

Starting today, the newspaper “Albania” will be published with 12 pages. Its price will not change Page 3