Mustafaj visits Austria and Germany, Kosova at the center of talks

TIRANA, March 10 – Foreign Minister Besnik Mustafaj visited Saturday Vienna, Austria to hold bilateral meetings with Austrian officials and also other one with international organizations operating there. Kosova was at the center of the talks he held. First he met with the senior U.N. deputy envoy for the Kosova talks Albert Rohan to express to him the government’s support to the (Martti) Ahtisaari’s plan for Kosova. Mustafaj said that Ahtisaari’s solution would be sustainable politically and legally and would guarantee Kosova’s territorial integrity.
Mustafaj also held a speech the next day at a forum of the Vienna Diplomatic Academy on Albania’s challenges of integration. Mustafaj held several meeting with the Austrian officials to talk about bilateral cooperation and Austria’s assistance in the closer ties with the European Union, which Albania aspires to join one day.
He also met with OSCE officials, which headquarters are based in Vienna. He talked with OSCE permanent ambassadors in Vienna. The OSCE has played an important role in Albania’s democratic transition and the relationship will remain close as the country works to achieve its two main foreign policy goals of membership in European and Euro-Atlantic structures, said Mustafaj. Albania would offer to chair the Organization in 2012. “In overcoming the obstacles Albania has encountered in its path of transition, in facing current and future challenges and in progressing further ahead, the Albanian authorities have had and will continue to maintain close relations with the OSCE and its participating States,” he said. He also said close co-operation with neighbors was a high priority for Albania, through OSCE activities and bilaterally. If Albania chaired the OSCE, it would contribute substantially to further strengthening the credibility, reliability, role and work of the Organization in achieving common goals, Mustafaj said.
The minister also met with the head of the U.N. office for drugs and crime Antonio Maria Costa to express thanks to him on the support to the country’s efforts to fight organized crime and illegal trafficking. Corruption in Albania covered a special part of the talks. UNODC has started a project in Albania for that. It has already launched another project on “Global Initiative to Combat Trafficking in Persons and Slavery”. Mustafaj continued his last week’s visit going to Germany to visit the Marshall Center in Garmisch and meet with its head John Rose. Last September the center held in Tirana a meeting discussing on the fight against corruption and organized crime in the western Balkans. He also visited NATO school in Oberammargau, where he made known his country’s efforts toward becoming a full member of the alliance.