Yesterday, the Chairman of the People’s Presidium of the People’s Socialist Republic of Albania, Comrade Ramiz Alia, departed for New York. He will take part in the proceedings of the 45th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization and in the World Summit for Children, which will also be attended by many heads of state from around the world. Yesterday, the Chairman of the People’s Presidium departed for New York. He will take part in the proceedings of the 45th session of the General Assembly of the United Nations Organization and in the World Summit for Children, which will also be attended by many heads of state from around the world. He is accompanied by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, Reis Malile, and the director of the Institute for the Study of International Relations, Prof. Sofokli Lazri. Comrades Adil Çarçani, Besnik Bekteshi, Foto Çami, Hajredin Çeliku, Hekuran Isai, Kiço Mustaqi, Pali Miska, Simon Stefani, Xhelil Gjoni, Llambi Gegprifti, Niko Gjyzari, Pirro Kondi, Qirjako Mihali, Abdyl Backa, the chairwoman of the General Council of FDSH, Nexhmije Hoxha, the deputy chairmen of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly, Rita Marko and Xhafer Spahiu, members of the Presidium of the People’s Assembly and of the government, representatives of veterans, deputies, leaders of central mass organizations and of educational, cultural and scientific institutions, and young men and women had come to Rinas Airport to see him off. Comrade Ramiz Alia met with everyone present at the airport, who wished him a safe journey and bade him farewell with affection. «As I leave to take part in the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, before my departure I extend greetings to our people, all working people, the working class, the educational strata, the intelligentsia, the men, women and young people of our country, and wish you all good health and success in your work,» Comrade Ramiz Alia told the journalists. «May I find you in better health, and may I find you achieving new victories for the good of our socialist Fatherland.» (Photo: ATSH)

A new campaign has begun AUTUMN PLANTING—A CAMPAIGN THAT REQUIRES DISCIPLINE AND INITIATIVE DURRËS Faulty tractors, or shortcomings in organization? The optimal deadline for beginning wheat sowing has been set at 20 October. It is also well known that the soil must be prepared as thoroughly and as early as possible, not one or two days before sowing. But judging by the progress of ploughing the land for wheat in Durrës, one can say that one of the requirements of agricultural practice—early soil preparation—is being disregarded. Ploughing is proceeding slowly. It is 24 September, and the district total has reached 3,880 hectares ploughed, which is quite low compared with the area to be sown. What is holding things back? A great deal of land has been cleared, such as the land planted with sunflowers, soybeans and beans. Some of the land planted with maize has also been cleared, although efforts must be stepped up to harvest the maize as quickly as possible. So there is work to be done. But what is preventing ploughing from moving ahead? It is good that the pace of sowing hashash and alfalfa has increased—these should have been completed by now—but is there serious concern for our future bread supply? According to the agriculture section, the obstacle is a problem raised by the heads of the SMTs: many tractors are defective. And indeed, the readiness of the tractors at both the Kavaja SMT and the Shijak SMT, and generally throughout the district, leaves much to be desired. Only now have the comrades at the SMTs thought to say, “We have breakdowns.” What have they done about this all year? They have said more than once that they were working to repair them so they would be as ready as possible for ploughing; they have said they were trying to produce various replacement parts, and so on. But all this remained on paper. It is true that there are also shortages of some replacement parts. But the alarm is not raised now. So before saying «we have faulty tractors», look at the shortcomings in work organization. Weaknesses should not be attributed only to external causes. There are tractor brigades that work well, which shows that the tractors’ readiness has been properly assessed even now; but there are also other brigades with faulty tractors, which means that their repair work has been carried out carelessly—a matter that must be put right immediately. Time waits for no one. Wheat does not forgive delays. SOTIRAQ GJORDENI

GIROKASTËR Autumn has not yet arrived for some The task set for September was to plough and sow the fodder crops. The mountain zone is just managing to meet this task by the 20th. At the same time, work was under way on wheat. And indeed, four mountain economies—Poliçani, Çatista, Nivani and Golemi—completed sowing and have begun preparing to sow wheat; Poliçani has even sown it. Across the district, 3,433 hectares out of a total of 4,080 have been ploughed for second-crop fodder, and Sofratika, Glina, Suha, Lazarati, Mashkullora and the N.B.s are doing well. Meanwhile, Frashani, Vrisera and Jergucati are lagging, and especially Kardhiqi, Picari and Kolonja, which are behind even though they must begin sowing wheat on 1 October. The benefits of early sowing have been fully confirmed by the results of recent years, and therefore the cooperatives of Nivani, Golemi and Qatistët appear to be late and their work with wheat is unacceptable. There is also a backlog in ploughing in the hilly economies, such as Kolonjë and Fushëbardhë, in the upland areas of NB Lunxhëria and «Asim Zeneli», and in Suha; they too must hurry and prepare in time. That is why we say: it seems the arrival of autumn has gone unnoticed by the leaders of the cooperatives of Çatista, Nivani and Kolonja, but also by those of the district SMT. THANAS DINO

The agricultural machinery plant in Fier has been operating on its own account during the second half of this year. «Among other things, the implementation of this mechanism was preceded by work to take inventory of stockpiled and slow-moving goods and determine how they should be used,» the plant’s director, Sotiraq Rrezhdha, tells us. «Thus, large quantities of such materials were used as raw materials in the production process, while the rest, which was unusable and of low quality, was transferred to the foundry workshop.» Work has also been done to settle all debit and credit obligations resulting from invoices not having been paid by the specified deadlines. We are all interested in implementing this mechanism, while the organization and management of work at every stage of production are being further improved. The administration, too, has moved closer to the workers. At the plant’s planning department, we learn that the general industrial production plan for the eight-month period was fulfilled at 100.1 per cent across all items. The other indicator, the value of goods produced and sold over the same period, was also fulfilled, at 110 per cent. This latter overfulfilment was also due to the increased initiative of the employees in the supply department, who secured a market for the sale of machinery and spare parts carried over from the previous six-month period. Alongside meeting the production plans, work is also proceeding to achieve satisfactory financial indicators. Efforts are being made in every area to lower the level of expenditure per 1,000 lekë of sold output—something that directly affects the enterprise’s financial results and the growth of employees’ incomes. At this pace of work, fulfilling and exceeding every ten-day target, there is every possibility that the financial indicators, too, will be exceeded. ARIANITË RREDHI

Since the beginning of the year, cash sales by the trading enterprises of the Sarandë district have exceeded their target by nearly 4 million lekë, while the other economic and financial indicators have also been met. The service network is continuing to expand, and supplies to the population in the city and in various areas of the district are improving. The renovation of Sarandë’s retail network, the opening of new outlets in the Kodër neighbourhood and in Delvinë, Konispol and Bregdet, as well as the opening so far of more than 10 private service outlets, etc., are having a clear effect on improving supplies and raising commercial standards. (According to ATSH)

This year, the wheat production plan in the Gramsh district was not fulfilled. The shortfall was also caused by the backlog observed the previous year in ploughing the land and sowing the crop. The chairmen of the agricultural cooperatives and the specialists themselves acknowledge this. Particularly significant shortfalls were recorded by Lenia, Porocani, Sojnuku, etc. Logic dictates that lessons should have been learned from these shortcomings for this year, as the wheat-sowing campaign is now beginning. But sowing is already being hindered by the slow pace of ploughing in all the cooperatives. The figures show that so far only 12 per cent of the land area to be sown with wheat has been ploughed. The mountain-zone economies are the furthest behind, even though they must begin sowing earlier than the others. Thus, Kukuri has ploughed only 2 per cent of the planned area, Porocani 8 per cent, Holtasi 6 per cent, and Lenia and Sulsi 5 per cent each, etc. There are all kinds of excuses for this situation. Some economies blame the SMT for the slow pace. Naturally, it bears some responsibility, as comparisons with each cooperative show, but the economies themselves are no less responsible, because the areas they have to plough using their own equipment are very small. PIRRO VERUSHI

- FIER - On Sunday, the 47th anniversary of the creation of the partisan battalion «Semani» was celebrated in the village of Sheq-Marinez in the Fier district. Wreaths were laid by the monument commemorating this event on behalf of the Central Committee of the Party, the Party Committee, the Executive Committee of the People’s Council and the district mass organizations. A rally was held here on this occasion, attended by cooperative members, veterans, deputies and councillors, members and relatives of the families of martyrs, military personnel, young men and women, and Enver Pioneers. Also present were the first secretary of the district Party Committee, Comrade Lenka Çuko, the chairman of the District People’s Council Executive Committee, Anastas Pone, and other comrades. Council of Ministers and the General Council of FDSH, the participants were greeted by Nedin Hoxha, a member of the Central Committee of the Party. A telegram was sent from the rally to the Central Committee of the Party, the Council of Ministers and the General Council of FDSH. - SHKODËR - To commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Koplik, fought in defence of the national independence of the Fatherland against the Serbian-Montenegrin chauvinist forces, which constitutes another page of invincible resistance and a

At the invitation of the Committee for Albanian-Balkan Friendship and Cooperation, the delegation of the Albanian Committee for Balkan Friendship and Cooperation, headed by its chairman, Prof. Dr. Dhimitër S. Shukuriqi, set off for Sofia. The delegation will exchange views with the Bulgarian side on expanding relations between the two committees and on the contribution they should make in the future to advance the process of Balkan cooperation. (ATSH)

— From the writer’s notebook — 1. Who is Fejzi Sykja in Shkodër? He is 50 years old. He has completed five secondary schools: general, economics, electrical, mechanical, and surveying. 1. Who is Fejzi Sykja in Shkodër? He is 50 years old. He has completed five secondary schools: general, economics, electrical, mechanical, and surveying. The needs of his day-to-day work drove him to attend and complete these schools. He began higher studies in civil engineering, but family circumstances forced him to interrupt them. Nevertheless, he is more than an engineer. He is a polytechnic man with a fertile, creative mind. Traditionally, his family has worked with iron. His grandfather, with his own hands, apparently turned out iron motorboats of 500 tons at the Old Bazaar in Shkodër, where there was supposedly a place to launch them into the waters of the Lake. The men of this family have worked with carts, wagons, boats, motors, and all kinds of ironwork. Fejzi Sykja is the fifth of five brothers, a family of polytechnicians. Two are engineers, and one studied mathematics and physics. In 1960, at the Shkodër metallurgical plant, Fejzi Sykja became a metal technician “for the speed regulator” of turbines. He took part in installing turbines at the Bistrica, Vau i Dejës, Fierzë, and Koman hydroelectric plants. From simple motors to turbines, this is the path along which Fejzi Sykja’s character was formed; from simple motors to inventions of considerable value. He is the father of six daughters. His sorrow is that he has no son to inherit all that he knows, all this experience and skill acquired over the years. What has Fejzi Sykja done? More than 46 items have been put into production at various enterprises in the Shkodër district: lampshade products; three types of fans, usable and adjustable anywhere, rated at 15, 48, and 100 watts; watch and table-clock glass made from ordinary river sand. About 200 samples of them were sent to the glass factory in Tirana; eyeglass lenses, eyeglass frames and rims, clothes hangers, glass colors, plastic coloring, several types of caps for export, decorative stones for rings, which the artistic enterprise welcomes, rich ceramic production, etc. In just two years, his creative work has generated 450,000 lekë. Fejzi Sykja himself has received no honorarium and no reward. Every September 11 he has been given a certificate of honor, a decoration, and plenty of kind words—and that is all. Of course, he has received his salary every month, what was due to him according to his category and certification grade. Fejzi Sykja is full of imagination and ideas. Decades ago, Shkodër had 11 clocks in the city. Today, in 1990, there is only one, and it does not work. Fejzi has begun concrete steps to build a clock for the city, visible from every direction, day and night; one that would chime to announce the time even to people in neighborhoods who cannot see it. “An interesting idea,” the district administration tells him, “good, and well thought out.” Nevertheless, nothing concrete is done to encourage Fejzi to actually get to work. The city clock is among Fejzi Sykja’s fertile ideas. He is 50 years old. When will he make it a reality? Fejzi has another idea, too: to build a bicycle for the city, that is, to prepare all the equipment it needs, etc. The calculations have been made; it would earn 7,500 lekë a day (“Good, Comrade Fejzi, what an interesting idea. We’ll now look into the possibility of carrying it out”). “I don’t have enough hands; I need hundreds of hands to turn what I know into material value,” says Fejzi Sykja. He has no son to pass his experience on to. He has asked for young men from the city to be assigned to him so he can keep them nearby and teach them. Can’t they be found, or won’t they send them to him? People like Fejzi Sykja are a talent and a treasure for the nation through their work. Everywhere there are outstanding minds, keen-eyed, fertile, full of imagination, working for the people; but, like every innovator, Fejzi too is “a pain in the neck” to the administration, to certain bureaucratic officials. Directly to them he says: “A cold brick”; “Good, well done, an interesting idea! We’ll make an effort to put it into practice. New production lines and workshops can be opened. So many young men and women can be put to work...” In reality, nothing gets done. The tired element of the state administration, sunk in bureaucratic routines, sluggishness, and incompetence, says to itself inside the office: “Oh, Fejzi Sykja, what a crank. That’s just your imagination playing tricks on you, Fejzi Sykja, you don’t know anything. Ah, everything turns into work—Fejzi Sykja wants a clock for the city. Today every citizen has a watch on his wrist; there’s no reason to raise your head and prick up your ears in the middle of things to hear the city clock! Fejzi Sykja doesn’t know a thing... Oh, imagination! We have other troubles now. Won’t you leave me alone, Fejzi Sykja! You’re getting on our nerves... You marvel at the talents in the country, but keep them in place, along with their ideas for putting things into practice.” (Continued on page 3)