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AlbAmerica Trade and Consulting International: Albanian Times, 96-11-11
Albanian Times
November 11, 1996
CONTENTS
[01] Food Prices Rise, Farmers Unable to Meet Market Demands
[02] CEI Summit Ends in Discontent Over Albania's Protest
[03] Bomb Rips Judge's Apartment in Tirana
[04] Pyramid Schemes Behind Lek's New Gains
[05] Bank Privatization Not Easy, Experts Warn
[06] Bechtel Opens Office in Va for E.Europe Projects
[07] Vaccination Curbs Polio Epidemics in Albania
[08] Hard reforms still face East Europe - EBRD
[09] Albanian Motorists Flock To Driver's Ed Courses
[01] Food Prices Rise, Farmers Unable to Meet Market Demands
TIRANA, November 11 - Food prices in Albania appear to be aiming higher,
according to a report from the Ministry of Agriculture and Food in Tirana.
Bread grain is sold at between lek 34.7 and 36.0 per kilo while corn at lek
31.6. White cheese that last week was sold at lek 244.4 per kilo is selling
at leks 253.3 per kilo. Fruit and vegetable imports continue to suffocate
the Albanian market with prices for such products rising to new highs.
Tomatoes are sold at lek 97 per kilogram, carrots and culiflower at lek 80,
cucumbers at 140 and oranges at leks 150. Albanian farmers seem unable to
meet the increasing demand of the internal market. (Albanian Times)
[02] CEI Summit Ends in Discontent Over Albania's Protest
GRAZ, Austria, Nov 9 - A summit of European leaders ended in discontent on
Saturday when Albania said it would oppose Yugoslavia's membership in the
Central European Initiative (CEI) unless it agreed to bilateral talks on
Kosovo. ``We have the right not to allow their membership in the CEI,''
Albanian Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi told reporters after the two-day
summit of the 16-member group. ``(They have to agree to) not only bilateral
talks but to make some solutions.'' In its final communique, the CEI failed
to mention the Kosovo issue, after a proposal to do so was voted down by
the Slovak delegation, Meksi said. The CEI, a loosely-knit group formed in
1989 after the collapse of Communism, requires unanimous decisions. The
communique instead stressed the need for boosting regional cooperation,
particularly in transport and energy, combating organised crime and
protecting the environment. (Albanian Times/Reuters)
[03] Bomb Rips Judge's Apartment in Tirana
TIRANA, Nov 7 - An explosion tore through two floors of an apartment
building in downtown Tirana early Wednesday, injuring at least three people,
including two children, and destroying two apartments. The fifth-floor
apartment targeted in the explosion was the home of Prel Martini, chief
judge of Albania's appeals court. Martini's 5-year-old daughter suffered a
broken leg, but Martini received only minor cuts, doctors said. A 34-year-
old woman was taken to the hospital with head injuries, the Interior
Ministry said. A 7-year-old boy also was injured, although doctors did not
say how seriously. The explosion toppled two walls and a floor in the
apartment building, and shattered glass in windows up to 600 yards away.
Prime Minister Aleksander Meksi said the explosion was a politically
motivated terrorist act. He said the Sigurimi, the Communist-era secret
police, were intent on destabilizing Albania, ``but the state will hold
them responsible for this.'' The pro-government newspaper Albania said the
attack was related to Martini's decision Tuesday to uphold 15- to 20-year
sentences for nine former high-ranking Communist officials charged with
crimes against humanity. (Albanian Times/Reuters/AP)
[04] Pyramid Schemes Behind Lek's New Gains
TIRANA, Nov 8 - The Albanian lek reached its strongest level against the
dollar for almost two years as Albanians continued to put their lek savings
into high interest pyramid schemes offered by local companies. The dollar
was quoted at 97 leks on Friday, compared with 106 leks one week ago and
117 leks earlier this year. The lek also notched up big gains against other
western currencies, bank officials said. ``Pyramid schemes with high
interest over a short time period have had a big influence,'' said a bank
official who declined to be named. He noted a steep drop in the volume of
leks in circulation as a result of the schemes, and said many Albanians
were selling dollars for leks so they could participate in the schemes.
Numerous Albanian companies offer returns of eight to 10 percent a month on
funds lent to them for periods of up to three months. Some offer as much as
25 percent a month. Details of the schemes are murky. The World Bank and
the International Monetary Fund have both expressed concerns and urged
Albania to clamp down on the networks. Opinions are divided on where the
companies find the cash to repay their creditors. (Albanian Times/ADN/Reuters)
[05] Bank Privatization Not Easy, Experts Warn
TIRANA. Bankers in Tirana said the privatization of state-run banks is not
as simple as it seems. "Banks can not be privatized like other state owned
enterprises, despite urgent cash demands by Albanian and foreign investors
operating in Albania", Bedri Çollaku, Director of the Savings Bank said.
Banks have been urged to look for strategic investors who would help
strengthen their financial situation. "The criteria a strategic investor
should meet have been set", Albert Gajo, adviser to the Prime Minister
saaid. Kristaq Luniku, the Governor of the National Bank, said many
private banks will be licensed by the end of the year. "Management is the
key for running a bank and presently there are no banking managers",
Çollaku complains. "A bank is not a state-owned enterprise to be privatized
with vouchers", he adds. Çollaku thinks the privatization of banks with
state funds is a necessity, but points to the importance of "a rigorous
application of the privatization strategy". He says those banks that would
secure a potential strategic investor able to maintain the confidence and
the integrity of the bank will be first privatized". (Albanian Times/Albanian
Observer N.10)
[06] Bechtel Opens Office in Va for E.Europe Projects
VIRGINIA, Nov 7 - Bechtel National Inc. (BNI) officially opened its office
today in the Tysons Corner area of Northern Virginia to serve as its East
Coast center of operations for the company's projects in Eastern Europe,
including Albania. The Bechtel International Consulting Group, currently
helping governments of the former Eastern Bloc create new laws and
economic rules to restructure their energy industries, will be housed in
the new office as well. The group is halfway through a three-year contract
from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to help 11
countries establish new energy laws and policies to create new systems for
their emerging free-market economies. Albania is also included in the
project. (Albanian Times/Reuters)
[07] Vaccination Curbs Polio Epidemics in Albania
COPENHAGEN, Nov 7 - A vaccination campaign has helped curb a polio epidemic
in Albania, the World Health Organization said. The outbreak has killed 13
Albanians and infected 129 others since April. The number of new cases
peaked at 16 per week in late September, prompting health officials to
institute a mass vaccination program. Reports of new infections began
declining immediately after the vaccination program started Oct. 7. Last
week, only two new polio cases were reported, according to WHO's regional
office for Europe in Copenhagen. The U.N. health agency said more than 90
percent of Albanians under age 50 -- considered the high-risk group -- had
been vaccinated. It did not provide the number of people immunized.
(Albanian Times/AP)
[08] Hard reforms still face East Europe - EBRD
LONDON, Nov 7 - Eastern Europe's efforts to switch to a market economy
have been impressive but some of its toughest problems lie ahead, the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Monday.
"The legacies of a command economy cannot be overcome in a few years...there
is progress across the board but hard problems remain," EBRD chief
economist Nick Stern said. One of the major advances has been the success
of the mass privatisation in countries of the former Soviet Union, Albania
and Romania. The EBRD pointed out that $6 billion in foreign investment had
flowed into the region's major infrastructure firms since 1990, mainly into
telecommunications and also into gas and electricity firms. "However, some
of the more difficult tasks at the heart of transition, such as enterprise
restructuring, the rehabilitation and rebuilding of infrastructure, and
the building of strong financial and legal institutions, have a long way to
go," Stern said.
[09] Albanian Motorists Flock To Driver's Ed Courses
TIRANA, Albania - Genc Xhuli veers a banged-up Fiat sharply to the left,
narrowly missing an elderly pedestrian. He swerves to the right to dodge a
family of three walking side by side by side in the two-lane road on the
outskirts of town. A few honks later, Mr. Xhuli swings wildly to avoid a
pothole big enough to swallow the two-door car of interminate age, only to
plow into another trench. During his short spin, he also contends with
stray dogs, loose gravel, horse-drawn carts, lolling cows, drivers pulled
over to relieve themselves -- and a nervous instructor by his side.
So goes another lesson at the Haxhi Haxhimali Driving School, where Mr.
Xhuli and some of the world's other newest drivers get an adventure in
every bend of the road.
Since the collapse of 45 years of isolationist Communist rule in 1991, this
tiny Balkan nation is fast adopting the Western philosophy that to drive is
to be. For decades, private ownership of cars was prohibited; six years ago,
there were just 5,300 cars and trucks in Albania, acountry of 3.3 million.
Today, about a quarter-million vehicles -- mostly Mercedeses, Fiats, Volvos
and, the new favorite, Jeeps -- clog Albania's crumbling roadways.
"Everything new is exciting -- new for Albania, that is," says Mr. Xhuli,
28 years old, as he drags on an L&M cigarette and sips Turkish coffee after
his death-defying lesson. "If there were training courses for helicopters,
I'd do that too."
Thankfully, there aren't. Driving poses enough danger. According to the
government, 306 people were killed in auto accidents last year. That was an
improvement from the 421 deaths reported in 1994, but it is still at least
six times higher than the number of deaths per vehicle in the U.S.
Driving is a symbol of the chaos. In Tirana's central Skanderbeg Square --
teeming with kiosks selling everything from hamburgers to Italian shoes --
a bumper-car ride has replaced a statue of the late dictator Enver Hoxha.
The ride is safer than the square. The equivalent of eight lanes wide,
with no dividing lines, Skanderbeg has 10 entrances and exits -- and no
traffic lights. Cars weave in and out, bicycles head in all directions,
children sprint across in a game of chicken, and pedestrians plunge in as
if they owned the square, which they used to.
Authorities recently had to close the left-hand turnoffs on Albania's lone
stretch of divided highway -- four lanes, six miles -- after drivers
repeatedly plowed into oncomingtraffic. Kamikazes simply began speeding
down the wrong side of the road instead.
Outside the port of Durres, which is a 15-mile, 45-minute drive from Tirana,
hundreds of cars are parked in fields in a roadside bazaar. A diesel
Mercedes, circa 1985, sells for under $5,000 -- many currencies accepted --
as do Volkswagens, BMWs and Audis, some of them stolen in western Europe.
Many documents are forged, and emissions and other performance standards
are nonexistent. "You can't apply the rules of Europe or the United States,
" says Elio Germano, the European Union representative in Albania, "because
95% of the cars would have to be removed."
There are attempts to improve the system. The European Union is helping
Albania adopt regulations governing speed, signals, fines (now about $5),
inspections and emissions. A public-service announcement on television
urges drivers and passengers, especially children, to wear safety belts,
now widely ridiculed.
There are now about a dozen traffic lights in Tirana, the capital. Modern
gas stations are springing up. Even the roads are improving slowly; the
European Bank for Reconstruction and Development has earmarked $25 million
to extend the divided highway to Durres. (Courtesy: The Wall Street
Journal)
This material was reprinted with permission of AlbAmerica Trade & Consulting
International. For more information on ATCI and the Albanian Times, please
write to AlbaTimes@aol.com
Copyright © ATCI, 1996
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