EU to liberalize visa regime for Albania in 2009

TIRANA, Sep 20 – Albanian Foreign Minister Lulzim Basha tried to raise hopes of the Albanian citizens when saying after his visit to Brussels at the European Union headquarters that next year will be a decisive one for the liberalization of the EU’s visa regime for Albanian citizens.
Basha met with Vice-President of the European Commission Jacques Barrot to explain Albania’s process of issuing new identity documents for Albanian citizens, including identification cards and passports with biometric data.
Supplying citizens with these high-security documents is one of the government’s priorities and EU criteria for the visa regime liberalization.
In another good signal Greek ambassador to Albania Nikolaos Patsios promised that Albanian citizens would be able to travel without visas to Greece in the near future.
Albania has to fulfill a list of requirements, including the introduction of identification documents containing biometric data and fighting illegal migration and organized crime.
Albanian citizens have enjoyed some benefits since the beginning of the year. Some categories of visitors to the EU, such as students, athletes, cultural workers and journalists enjoy easier visa access. In addition, the visa fee was lowered from 60 to 35 Euros and visas that are valid for up to five years and allow multiple entries are now issued.