U.S. WELCOMES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARIANS' VISIT TO ALBANIA

[USIA]

USIS Washington File

23 January 1998

TEXT: U.S. WELCOMES EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARIANS' VISIT TO ALBANIA

(Delegation will address Albania's lingering problems) (400)

Washington -- The United States shares the concern of a delegation of
European parliamentarians in Albania this week "to help Albanians
address the lingering political, economic, and security problems,"
according to a statement by the State Department spokesman January 23.

The United States endorsed the call of the delegation from the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the
Council of Europe and the European Union for all parties to work
together constructively" to solve Albania's continuing problems,
according to the spokesman's statement.

Following is the text of the State Department release:

(Begin text)

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
OFFICE OF THE SPOKESMAN
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JANUARY 23, 1998
STATEMENT BY JAMES P. RUBIN, SPOKESMAN

SITUATION IN ALBANIA

The United States welcomes the visit of a joint parliamentary
delegation from the OSCE, Council of Europe and EU to Albania this
week. We share the concern of the European parliamentarians with the
continued political tensions in Albania. Recent violent incidents in
Shkoder and elsewhere serve as a vivid reminder that Albania has still
not emerged fully from the crisis of 1997.

The U.S. has been coordinating closely with European and multilateral
partners to help Albanians address the lingering political, economic,
and security problems. We have been working intensively with the
International Financial Institutions and note that positive steps have
been taken by the Albanian Government to restore macroeconomics
discipline and resolve the matter of the pyramid investment schemes,
the collapse of which rocked Albania one year ago.

We endorse the call of the OSCE/COE/EP delegation statement today for
all parties to work together constructively in the governance of the
country, for the opposition Democratic Party to rejoin the Albanian
Parliament, for opposition rights to be respected in Parliament, for
dialogue on the new constitution to resume, for the independence of
the judiciary to be observed, for agreements on public media to be
implemented, and for a true meritocracy to be introduced into the
civil service.

We, along with our international partners, will continue to work with
the Albanian Government and all constructive Albanian political forces
to help improve the political, economic and security situation in
Albania. In doing so, we expect all Albanians to likewise adopt a
positive approach toward addressing their nation's problems.

(End text)