Parliament Speaker, Tirana Mayor seek Arab support

TIRANA, Feb. 14 – Parliament Speaker Jozefina Topalli and Tirana Mayor Lulzim Basha have been on a long tour in the Arab countries in the last days trying to attract as much of their money into Albania as possible, and also lobbying for Kosovo.
This week Topalli was in Beirut, Lebanon in an effort to “reinforce joint cooperation.”
Her main aim of the visit was likely trying to urge Beirut to recognize Kosovo, that till now has been accepted by 87 countries in the world.
On the other side Basha signed a twinning agreement between Doha city and Tirana at the Doha Municipality headquarters. It aims at exchanging information, expertise and experience in various areas of the services provided by the two cities to their inhabitants. These entail enhancing co-operation in buildings control and the issuance of building permits and business licenses. It also includes the development of joint programmes to exchange experiences and training in construction, hygiene, education and waste recycling. Forestation, water, efficiency of energy, city beautification, education, and public health and youth affairs would be among the main areas of co-operation between the two cities.
Basha also urged his counterparts to come and invest in Tirana and also keep an eye on the new project for the extension of the capital’s main boulevard. The Tirana city hall will soon hold an international competition for that.
Upon taking his post last year, Basha had pushed away the regeneration of the Tirana center which was funded by an Arab country. Clearly, however, new initiatives are in the works.