Here is how the district PS leaders are elected PAGE 24

Berisha’s political efforts to protect the trafficking of prostitutes and cars fail • Police are determined: they terrorized northern Albania and Milan; they will remain in Laç until they are all behind bars PAGE 5

ISSUE OF THE DAY The people of the nation should carry the appeal everywhere ISSUE OF THE DAY Let us remove the weapons from our homes The people of the nation should carry the appeal everywhere The tragic incident that occurred a few days ago in Dibër, where three 10-year-old children fell into the trap of a bomb and one of them died while the other two were maimed, must be an alarm bell for all of us. After the tragic year 1997, unprecedented events in the history of the country have taken place in Albania. A parent has killed a child, a child has killed a parent; children, teachers, doctors have been killed... All this horror has occurred because people have had weapons at their waists, and a moment of anger has driven them to fatal actions. The time has come for all of us to rise up to remove the excuse and, in fact, the weapons from our homes. But the campaign to hand in weapons cannot be carried out by the police alone! The police, now legally reorganized and professionally capable, are showing that there is a state in the country today. This is the greatest achievement of our police, because where there is a state there is no vigilantism or taking the law into one’s own hands; there is, therefore, a strong willingness among the people to hand over their weapons. Now the police and the state must be helped in this process by figures from our nation and by the media, which must persuade the people by every means to hand in their weapons. Besides the great loss of human life, weapons in the hands of the people bring instability and enormous economic damage. These are the weapons that hinder serious foreign investment in the country and take away a chance for our tourism to flourish. But the future of these two sectors fundamentally determines the answer to the question: will we be prosperous tomorrow, or in pieces? There are many Albanians who, in this regard too, must hand in their weapons. They must not give up. They must appear in the media and at demonstrations, through poetry and flags, and convince people that weapons mean death, while peace means life! It is a disgrace for all the figures of our nation to remain silent about this massacre that is taking place, at a time when Michael Douglas is coming from Hollywood to Gramsh to persuade Albanians to hand in their weapons! We are not babies, waiting for everything from the world! To win the people’s trust, we need love, patience and reason. We do not need modern technology and dollars!

agriculture & prices THE MARKET May 1 – October 30, 2000: Albania completely halts imports of agricultural products Government policies are yielding results: vegetable prices this month, according to Galanxhi, adviser to the Minister of Agriculture, fell for 71% of items, including tomatoes - 3%, cucumbers - 43%, peppers - 12%, eggplants - 22%, green lettuce - 24%, peas - 52%, leeks - 16%, cabbage - 1%, cauliflower - 34%, spinach - 21%, spring onions - 40%, fresh garlic - 25%, dried garlic - 5%. INFORMATION FROM 7 OF THE COUNTRY’S MAIN CITIES PAGES 6–7

The head of the Hombah Pact in Tirana holds meetings with Meidani, Meta, Nano, Meksi and Milo Nano: Initiative in Parliament to support the Pact A productive meeting to review once again the possibility of parliamentary initiatives supporting the progress of the Stability Pact Hombah to Meta: You have created a good climate for donors and financiers The view of the European government is that Albania has made significant progress in all areas over recent months Meidani calls for acceleration of Stability Pact projects If financing for the Corridor 8 projects proceeds well, European banks will anchor additional funds for the port of Durrës Hombah to Meksi: Projects will become construction sites on schedule We are looking at every possibility to move the funding into a faster phase, and once this is achieved, the funding will be provided by the EU SPECIAL REPORT PAGE 2

Bulgarian President Stojanov in Tirana yesterday; meetings with President Meidani and Prime Minister Meta Meta–Stojanov: Our relations should not become monotonous, but should take concrete form through economic cooperation PAGE 4

roads & change INVESTMENTS Borovici–Shëngjin: the northern road’s rehabilitation cycle completed in less than 30 hours Drivers: This is how we become convinced that our taxes are not going to waste Very positive assessments: In the North, especially in Shkodër, travelers from Malësia e Madhe and Shkodër have given the government very positive assessments following the 30-hour campaign to rehabilitate the northern road PAGE 18

• IMF’s Treichel: The 2000 privatizations will change Albania’s image .......... 3 • Minister Meksi presents the document for the investment compact: $458 million in private investment over 7 years .......... 3 • Angjeli: A three-year budget; we should know how much money we have today and how much we will spend tomorrow .......... 16 • Italy launches “Albi 2000,” 6 billion to renovate 11 schools .......... 20