NATO sea military exercises held in Albania

TIRANA, June 8 – Albania will lead NATO naval exercises in the Adriatic Sea, a first for the newly promoted member of the alliance.
Albania became a NATO member country in April this year.
The war games, code-named “Adrion Liveks 09”, which include marines and officers from Albania, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Italy and Montenegro, aim to strengthen cooperation between naval forces in the region in an eventual crisis.
The naval exercise have been held in recent years in Italy, Greece and Montenegro.
“Our goal is to show that we are up to NATO standards,” Roland Nasto of the Albanian naval command told reporters.
Coast guard patrol boats and warships will participate in the exercise, among them five from the Albanian naval force.
Albania and Croatia officially joined NATO last week, ahead of the Strasbourg summit, where the two new member states participated as full-fledged members of the alliance for the first time.