Albania and Italy- a book on the financial links between neighboring countries

LONDON, March. 12- National Italian Bank manager of the London branch, Alessandro Roselli has recently published a book on the history of financial transactions between Albania and Italy during the period of fascism. A well-researched work, the book published by “I. B Taurus” was promoted in the British Parliament. The record of the Italian investments at that time reveals the murky intentions of the fascist project. The British parliament has promoted books about Albanian history once before. Roselli’s investigation and research shows that the aim behind the transactions was the deep entangling of the politics of the two countries. The author tries to comment on the difficulties of King Zog in trying to find a delicate balance between conflict and interest, taking into consideration his foreign policies. Roselli reaches the conclusion that the Italian project failed economically, despite being advertised as a success of fascism. The London club of the Mjaft movement in collaboration with British MP John Gorgan and the parliamentary group Albania-Britain organized the book’s promotion. Participants included not only politicians but also experts from the law, banking and academia fields. The Albanian ambassador to the United Kingdom, Kastriot Robo, appreciated the contribution of this book towards the Italian-Albanian relations. Robo said that the book combines the expertise of the author with a benevolent attitude towards Albania. Ralf Gjoni, director of Mjaft’s London branch explained that the importance of the event stands not only in the promotion of a historical analysis of Albania but also in the public recognition of such an important institution as the British Parliament of the importance of such projects related to our country. An appraisal of the book was done by Kastriot Frash쳩, director of the Institution for National Issues, who said that such effort t illuminate dark periods of history should be raised for the seriousness of the research. Roselli has published a first version of the book in 1986. The 2007 edition has been added and edited to fit new information. The new version includes the story of the Albanian gold reserves during the war which was discovered in 1997.