Albania, Bosnia celebrate visa-free travel with music

TIRANA, Jan. 26 – Sarajevo and Tirana philharmonic orchestras will get together for joint concerts in February to celebrate last year’s decision by the EU to abolish visa requirements.
About 90 artists are expected to take the stage first in Sarajevo on February 3 and then in Tirana three days later to perform some famous classical works, the director of Bosnia’s National Theatre, Gradimir Gojer, said as quoted by BalkanInsight.
The artists will also include a number of opera singers and ballet dancers from the two countries. Gojer said it was hoped that the two joint concerts would open the way for further cultural cooperation between Albania and Bosnia.
Both concerts will be free. Some tickets will be distributed to high school and university students in the two countries for participation in a lottery. Four of the lottery winners will be awarded a trip to one of the European Union capitals.
The EU lifted visa requirements for citizens of Albania and Bosnia in December last year, but some time was needed to organize the joint event because of the number of artists involved, organizers said.
While impoverished Albanians and Bosnians can hardly afford much travel, the EU decision to lift visa requirements was warmly welcomed in the two countries as a symbol of freedom after decades of isolation.
Bosnian citizens enjoyed unrestricted travel until the 1990s when war broke out in their country while Albanians were prevented from travelling after World War II first by the communist regime of Enver Hoxha and then because of the EU travel restrictions.