TIRANA, Feb. 19 – Albania and Macedonia on Tuesday signed an agreement to establish a visa-free regime between the two countries, giving an end to a long saga that started earlier this year when Skopje decided to oblige all Albanians be visa issued only at the embassy in capital Tirana.
The agreement was signed by Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha and his Macedonian counterpart Antonio Milososki.
Macedonia Premier Nikola Gruevski headed a delegation in an official visit to Tirana where he met with Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha, President Bamir Topi and Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli.
“This agreement on the liberalization of visas will help business and citizens to move more freely,” Gruevski told reporters at a news conference after the signature.
Berisha stressed that the two leaders had made progress on an amicable basis and had been able to leave behind the nationalist rhetoric that characterizes some media coverage of bilateral issues.
Under the agreement, citizens of both countries can reside in the neighboring country for 90 days visa free, within a timeframe of six months. The two countries agreed to boost economic cooperation, especially with regional transport and energy projects.
The two premiers also talked on pushing ahead with the construction of the so-called European Corridor 8, a highway linking Albania, Macedonia and Bulgaria.
Gruevski said they had already started a number of projects on that, while Berisha said they would also follow the line, especially pledging building a railway link with Skopje. Both leaders pledged to work on the road in their respective countries as soon as possible.
Gruevski argued that when it came to securing funding for large infrastructure projects, Macedonia may have to go it alone.
A new electricity transmission line is also expected to be built between Tirana and Skopje and the two countries are expected to lobby the United States and European Union, to secure support for the construction of the AMBO and Trans-Adriatic pipelines. “In these projects we have supported and will continue to support each other as the best projects of the century for both our countries,” said Berisha at the news conference. “We have waited for years for financial institutions to back them,” said Gruevski, adding it was time to commence construction of the projects without external support. Increased cooperation in the environmental protection of Lake Ohrid , which borders both countries, was a main topic of discussion.
Both leaders expressed their hopes of receiving an invitation to join NATO at the alliance April’s summit in Bucharest .
“We are hoping to celebrate jointly in April,” said Gruevski, going on to say that until then, both countries will be focused on their objectives.
Gruevski added that if Greece would veto Macedonia’s membership, due to their conflict on the name, that would damage not only Skopje, but also the region and NATO itself. Albania, Macedonia and Croatia, known as the Adriatic 3 Charter countries, have been asked to push through the necessary reforms, while they urge NATO members to initiate discussions on the candidate countries’ accession.
Kosova and Macedonia
Gruevski was not clear, to say the least, whether Skopje would recognize Kosova or not. He only said that they would closely follow the developments and decide in the interest of their country. When pressed whether that meant a yes or no, he declined to comment. But as if reminding himself of something he interrupted a question to say that Skopje had always supported the Ahtisaari plan for Kosova, also supported from Prishtina, and they hoped it would start to apply.
Thus, though declining to openly say ‘yes, we will recognize but wait for some time,” Gruevski only hinted it.
