Macedonia to help with energy crisis

TIRANA, Jan.13 – In a meeting with his colleague form Macedonia, the Albanian Foreign Minister, Besnik Mustafaj, said that Macedonia could help with Albania’s ongoing power crisis. “Macedonia vowed to build a 400kW power line that will be of great importance to Albania in terms of electricity imports”, Mustafaj said. However, the Macedonia Foreign Minister made it clear that his country will not increase the allowed quantity of water release on the Albanian side of the Ohrid Lake. This measure would automatically increase the water on the northern lakes where the hydropower stations are located since a branch of the Drini river, called Black Drini originates form the lake. Antonio Miloshoski visited the neighboring Albania and met also with Albanian prime minister and president to discuss potential areas of cooperation such as economy, tourism and energy. In the field of tourism the tow countries share the important lake of Ohrid which attracts hundreds of tourist annually on both coasts. Macedonia’s prime Minister, Nikola Gruevski, is expected in Albania for an official visit soon. One the agenda of the Macedonian FM were also meetings with parties and organizations related to the Macedonian minority of Albania.