Berisha urges greater cooperation with neighboring Macedonia

TIRANA, Nov. 9 – Prime Minister Sali Berisha on Wednesday held an official visit to neighboring Macedonia urging closer cooperation between the two countries along their road towards the European Union membership.
Albania has applied for the candidate status while Macedonia has already received such a status and is working toward full membership.
During the visit Berisha met with Albanian political leaders in the country, some of the Macedonian political parties and also top Macedonian officials.
Both countries have very good ties and expressed their joint will for their further extension in all the spheres.
The two premiers stressed the importance of projects in infrastructure like the road and railroads and also more exchanges in trade and tourism. They said both countries’ governments will work to lift customs barriers and also for the free movement of the people and goods, setting a custom regime like that of the European Union member countries.
Albania also pledged its further assistance for Macedonia’s NATO membership which has been hampered due to its problems with neighboring Greece over its name.
Integration of the western Balkan countries into the European Union is in the interest of peace and stability in the region, they said.
A considerable Albanian community lives in Macedonia and their integration into the country’s governance is a major debate and goal there.
During the visit Berisha also turned down any suggestion for the division of northern Kosovo following tension there. Berisha called such ideas as taken out of the archive of the late Serb dictator Slobodan Milosevic. “Respecting Kosovo’s existing borders is a vital interest for all the countries in the region,” he said.
The Albanian premier said that there were only three homogenous Serb communes in northern Kosovo without any Albanian residents while most of the Serbs live under the Iber River together with Albanians.
Macedonia has also recognized Kosovo as a new state and has the same idea that a stable Kosovo helps peace and stability in the Balkan region.