Albania

Croatian President-Elect Ivo Josipovic reiterated that he regretted that his Serbian counterpart, Boris Tadic, would not attend his inauguration, which is scheduled for February 18.

European Parliament (EP) Vice-President Roberta Angelilli on Saturday urged the opposition Socialist Party (SP) to stop its parliamentary boycott and start co-operating with the government.

The OSCE mission in Albania and the US Embassy in Tirana welcomed President Bamir Topi’s initiative to organise negotiations between the government and the opposition in order to end an ongoing political stalemate. The opposition has been boycotting parliament since September, insisting on a thorough investigation into the June 2009 …

Albanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced on Wednesday that Albania-Turkey agreement, lifting visa requirements for natioanals of the two countries, enters into effect on Wednesday. Albanian foreign ministry said scrapping the visa obligations started on January 27th and now the citizens of both counters are entitled to visa-free travel.

The key project that can contribute to further cooperation between Albania and Macedonia is the continued construction of the east-west European road and rail network, the countries’ foreign ministers concluded Monday at a meeting in Tirana.

The cooperation between Macedonia and Albania is highly significant to the stability in the region and to overall development of the Balkans, a senior Macedonian official said on Monday. Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki made the remarks at a joint press conference with his Albanian counterpart Ilir Meta.

Macedonian Foreign Minister Antonio Milososki is set to visit Albania on Monday. During his stay in Tirana, Minister Milososki will meet Foreign Minister Ilir Meta, President Bamir Topi, Parliament President Josefina Topali and Prime Minister Sali Berisha.

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Thursday that he is ready to meet opposition Socialist Party leader Edi Rama, adding that he hopes that the meeting would be fruitful in terms of overcoming the political impasse. PM Berisha on Wednesday met with representatives of European institutions in Tirana. The …

Spanish FM Miguel Angel Moratinos says the integration of the Western Balkans into the EU is one of the Spanish presidency’s priorities. Moratinos said that Spain expects that the EU member-states will be able to unfreeze the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) with Serbia by June. The agreement was signed …

Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha said that the questionnaire Brussels sent to Albania before it can be granted visa liberalisation has been completed. Experts from Brussels will visit Tirana in the coming weeks to evaluate the process.