Czech Premier Pledges Stronger Ties With Albania

TIRANA, April 18 – Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topol⯥k made an official visit to Albania to meet with his counterpart Sali Berisha as well as other officials in an effort to boost bilateral ties.
The Czech prime minister was touring a series of European capitals to outline priorities of the Czech EU presidency in 2009.
Inclusion of western Balkan countries into the European Union would be a main topic of his country’s work during the presidency, he said while in Tirana.
“The Czech Republic has as its main priority precisely the integration of Western Balkans,” said Topolanek at a news conference after meeting with Albanian counterpart Sali Berisha.
Items on the agenda for discussion include Albanian integration within NATO and the EU, the situation in the western Balkans, and trade.
Berisha also thanked Topolanek for his country’s full support to Albania’s NATO membership invitation at the Bucharest summit earlier this month.
The two countries agreed to intensify their political ties and also economic ones.
Berisha said there already exists an experience of economic ties before when both countries have been under communist regimes. But they want it to be more intensified.
“Albania is a small country but with big potential in tourism, energy, mines and other areas,” said Berisha in an effort to attract Czech investors.
The Albanian premier also hailed Prague as a country of successful reforms in education, labor and health systems.