Moisiu awarded with Polish medal

TIRANA, Nov. 15 – Albanian President Alfred Moisiu was awarded on Wednesday the Order of the Great Cross of Gratitude by his Polish counterpart Lech Kaczynski, his press office said. This was the second time the medal was awarded. Moisiu began a two-day visit to Poland on Tuesday, the first ever by an Albanian president, to try to find support in Warsaw for his country’s aspiration to join the European Union and NATO. Poland pledged to be among the first countries to ratify the Stabilization and Association Agreement Albania signed with the European Union in June, considered to be the first step toward full membership, though no timing was set for that. Moisiu received a red-carpet greeting from Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski at the presidential palace in Warsaw on Tuesday, before official talks with Kaczynski and his identical twin brother Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski. The Albanian president also met with senior parliamentary officials and Polish businessmen. He also visited Warsaw’s Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the 1944 Warsaw Uprising Museum. Moisiu also went to Krakow and the nearby Second World War Nazi German death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau. With a population of nearly 40 million, Poland was the largest of 10 EU newcomers to join the bloc in the May 2004 enlargement. The two countries will soon sign economic, cultural, and educational agreements, according to the president’s press office. Moisiu invited Polish businessmen to come to his country. Moisiu was accompanied by a group of businessmen from the Albanian Chamber of Commerce.