Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), 99-03-06

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From: The Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at <http://www.telpress.it/ata>

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CONTENTS

[01] Customs police fine firms, confiscate goods

[02] Expired foodstuffs destroyed

[03] Credit-Savings companies to help small businesses

[04] Special project on securing foodstuffs

[05]

[06] PM calls on Albanians to be ready in defence of borders

[07] Jakup Krasniqi meets chief of U.S. Monitoring Mission in Kosova

[08] 10 Albanians from Prizren killed in February

[09] Unit to maintain rural road network sets up

[10] SP Leading Committee convenes in Tirana

[11] Some 15kg of narcotic plant found in the house of an arrested

[12] SP's next congress due on June 27

[13] Head of EU regional Office in Shkoder replaced

[14] Kosova parliament discusses Rambuje document

[15] New training centre for Albanian police in Durres

[16] US$40 million to be invested in chrome

[17] Albanian women prefer to celebrate International Day abroad

[18] RP,CDP want laws against crime in Albania applied

[19] EU, main trade partner of Albania

[20] Soccer-Matches of 20th week of National Championship held

[21] Working group to verify distribution of 204 hectares in Korce set up

[22] Activity of youth against armed conflict in Kosove

[23] Project "Consolidation of public participation in territory administration in Albania" presented

[24] NATO, the only guarantee for a stable Kosove and Balkans

[25] Commando forces and a delta anti-terror force will assist forces of order - Albanian Premier

[26] 90th anniversary of first Albanian school marked in Elbasan city

[27] Kosova Parliament said "yes" to document of Rambouillet for a transitory solution towards independence

[01] Customs police fine firms, confiscate goods

26 out of 64 vehicles controlled by the customs police have failed to show the documentation for the cargo while two of them have evaded customs tax.

Police have imposed 29 fines worth 2.6 million leks and have confiscated good worth 2,511 million leks leading to 5,1 million leks the amount of money collected by fines.

During the same period some 15.000 liters of fuel, 2.5 tons of coffee have been seized.

The customs police have cashed 11 million leks to the state budget. /ak/

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[02] Expired foodstuffs destroyed

He added that 1230 controls in different firms found out expired goods, which were destroyed. The total value of the goods was estimated at 160 thousand leks.

The control on foodstuff had been a problem in customs houses due to the lack of proper laboratory analysis, Haxhia said.

He said that new investments, according to specialists, would help prevent expired goods enter Albania. /pas/ak/

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[03] Credit-Savings companies to help small businesses

The development project started three years ago and guarantees technical assistance for the development of credit-savings companies.

So far 5 companies have been created three of which in Korça, two in Vlora and one in Kavaja. The project has helped these companies in working out the legal framework and organised different training and seminars.

The project has been financed by the European Union, Ireland League, Credit Unions as well as Catholic facilitating services. /lh/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[04] Special project on securing foodstuffs

The project worth US$650 thousand aimed at guaranteeing food in Albania through an increase of agricultural production.

The project has been operating since 1998 in three districts such as Lushnja, Kavaja, Elbasan and aims at being extended in other districts. It is expected to end in 2000. lh/ak/

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[05]

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[06] PM calls on Albanians to be ready in defence of borders

The Ministry of Information reported that at the beginning of the meeting, the Minister of Defence, Luan Hajdaraga, presented a detailed report on the situation in the northern border and the measures taken to guarantee the sovereignty and territorial invulnerability of the country.

The Foreign Minister, Paskal Milo, discussing about this problem, informed the government for the intensive efforts of the Albanian diplomacy to inform the international on the serious dangers that threaten the northern border of the country from the constant provocations of the regime of Milosevic, who has engaged in Kosova many military troops.

Premier Majko, talking about the rapid precipitation of the situation in the Balkans, especially in Kosova and the Albanian northern border, stressed that "We should be prepared with all the means to guarantee the defence of our borders, by working hard to reach a peaceful solution of the crisis in Kosova. For this, as it is stressed in the recent resolution adopted by Parliament, the only guarantee for the implementation of the accord on Kosova is NATO."

Then, the Minister of Public Order, Petro Koci, informed about the tragic event in Berat, in which three policemen, 4 innocent citizens weer killed, and the three criminals, who caused the tragedy, were eliminated by the police forces.

The Council of Ministers, expressing the solidarity with the order forces, encouraged them to observe the law in cases of criminal activity.

PM Majko stressed in his speech that the order problems are the main concern of the government he heads. Thus, he asked a better coordination of all ministries with the Ministry of Public Order to make reality the nation- wide request for the strict observation of law in the fight against crime.

The Council of Ministers decided to hold a special discussion on order problems in the next meeting and the further concrete measures to be taken.

The government meeting also approved an act for several amendments to the Customs Code and a decision for sheltering the senior political officials and civil officials of the state administration. /lh/mt/

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[07] Jakup Krasniqi meets chief of U.S. Monitoring Mission in Kosova

According to the spokesman, the technical issues were discussed during this meeting regarding the visit of the former senator Robert Doll and ambassador Christopher Hill, who will meet in a controlled zone by KLA with representatives of the Kosova Liberation Army, some of whom will travel to the United States during the coming days. /lh/mt/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[08] 10 Albanians from Prizren killed in February

Sources of Democratic League of Kosova (LDK) and the Human Rights Council in Prizren said that 28 Albanians had been arrested by the Serb police, 21 others maltreated and dozens threatened.

The Serb court in Prizren has sentenced 22 Albanians, accusing 18 of them of penal offences. 16 Albanians are being kept in detention rooms.

Cases of raids in Albanian families were recorded in the commune of Prizren during the same period. /lh/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[09] Unit to maintain rural road network sets up

The structure of the unit was approved on Friday at a meeting of the district council.

This unit is going to control 83 km of road network and include six construction specialists and a number of workers on road maintenance and drivers.

Head of the council Mehdi Tatani said that the new structure would be submitted to the Ministry of Local Government, which would decide on respective funds. /lh/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[10] SP Leading Committee convenes in Tirana

The meeting, which started at 10:15 in the Palace of Congresses, was opened by the SP Secretary General, Pandeli Majko, who also holds the post of Prime Minister of Albania.

Upon the proposal of Majko, the General Leading Committee remained silent for a minute to honor the three policemen, killed two days ago in Berat.

Majko presented to the committee members a brief analysis of the government work and said that the fight against crime will go on.

He also spoke of the crisis in Kosova. Premier Majko told the committee members that the allies and friends of Albania are pleased by the stand of the government he heads regarding the Kosova issue. Majko said that they ensured him that the Albanian borders should not be violated, because "they are international borders with global interests." "They (borders) are won with blood and will be defended with blood," said Majko, underlining the readiness of Albania for the defence of its territory.

After the speech of Majko, the meeting is going on beyond closed doors. /lh/mt/

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[11] Some 15kg of narcotic plant found in the house of an arrested

The spokesman of Durres police department told ATA on Saturday that the 15 kg of narcotic plant in the house of Durim Toci had been found pressed and packed in plastic bags.

Toci had been arrested one day earlier along with another citizen from Vora by the anti-drug forces in Korce as they had found 15kg of cannabis sativa in their vehicle. /s.s/lm/

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[12] SP's next congress due on June 27

In its meeting, which has begun since in the morning hours, the committee has also decided on the working groups to deal with the organisational aspect of the Congress.

The SP organisational secretary, Ilir Zela, told ATA that the meeting has also defined the bases on which the party organisations and zonal councils will hold party conferences in districts which will also elect the delegates to the Congress.

Former SP chairman Fatos Nano is going to take the floor at the meeting. /pas/lm/

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[13] Head of EU regional Office in Shkoder replaced

Danish Jan Kronenborg, who held this post for more than one year, has been replaced by British Krisp Tomley. Kronenborg has been assigned to another office in Bosnia.

The EU regional office in the Shkoder city was opened one year ago with the aim to closely follow the political and economic developments in this region. /s.s/lm/

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[14] Kosova parliament discusses Rambuje document

The Kosova parliament, at a meeting which began today by midday, has been discussing the document of the Rambuje Conference for a temporary solution to the Kosova issue.

The Parliament's Speaker, academician Idriz Ajeti, presented the proposal on the possible stands. These proposals are based on the support given to the temporary solution agreement at a meeting of the Parliament's presidency with the heads of the parliamentary groups and the commissions. /pas/lm/

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[15] New training centre for Albanian police in Durres

Rodolph Charlot, technical advisor at the French office of the MAPE Mission to Albania, told ATA that the new training centre of the Albanian police will be inaugurated on Tuesday.

According to the technical advisor, this centre will train all those police personnel that have not been trained so far.

"The instructors to deal with the training will be mainly from the MAPE Mission. The training at this centre will be at national level," said Charlot.

The building of the training centre has been sponsored by the PHARE programme and the Public Order Ministry.

The MAPE Mission performance in Albania started on the basis of an analysis made by the fact-gathering mission in Spring 1997. The main directions of the mission are counselling and training. /pas/lm/

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[16] US$40 million to be invested in chrome

The Albanian Albchrome and the Turkish company Hyri Ogelman Mandencilik Ltd Sirketi have signed a memorandum of understanding which envisages investment for the development of the chrome plant in the Kukes- Has region (Northeastern Albania), based on the chrome geological reserves and resources in Vlahna, Perrollaj, Kalimash.

The investment in total is worth US$40 million and will be carried out in a four-year period. The memorandum also envisages the construction of a new ferro-chrome plant. A group of Turkish specialists will arrive in Albania next week for this purpose. The works are expected to begin in the first six months of this year.

The said Turkish firm has been dealing with the production of chrome since 1946. Up to date it has turned out 2.720 million tonnes of chrome ore. /pas/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[17] Albanian women prefer to celebrate International Day abroad

According to the tourist agency "Alb Tours Durres", on Friday, 20 women from the capital started a five-day tour of Istanbul. Thirty women, representative of the "Albanian businesswomen" have begun their one-week tour of the Sicily island, while 73 women of the seaport and 30 teachers of the "Gjergj Kastrioti" school in Durres have preferred the Macedonian cities of Ohrid and Struge.

According to tourist agencies, this year's requests to celebrate the Women's day abroad have been in large numbers but the preferences for West European tours cannot be met because of the bureaucratic procedures in the foreign consulates. /lh/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[18] RP,CDP want laws against crime in Albania applied

"The government is duty-bound to defend and is responsible for the life of citizens, policemen, lawyers and students and this is concretely applied through the implementation of laws," the republican leaders told a news conference today.

They said the Albanian government should not stay indifferent towards crime and urged the implementation of capital punishment in Albania.

Also, the Christian-Democratic Party (CDP) asked from President Rexhep Meidani to increase the demand of responsibility towards the prosecutor's office.

According to the CDP chairman, Zef Bushati, under the current conditions when crime is active in Albania, when the public order forces and the prosecutor's office are still incapable to strike this phenomenon, a new political solution is necessary.

"This can be achieved only through a compromise and cooperation between the Albanian coalition government and the opposition," said Bushati. /pas/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[19] EU, main trade partner of Albania

According to specialists of the Ministry of Economic and Trade Cooperation, after 90s Albania has changed the geography of its trade exchanges with the world. Until 1990, Albania's trade exchanges with the Eastern Europe covered 45 per cent of the total while at the end of 1998, 80 per cent of the volume of the trade exchanges of Albania was realised with EU countries, with Italy and Greece as two main partners.

In 1991, Italy covered 10 per cent of the volume of the export commodities while in 1998 it had 64 per cent of the export. In 1997, Albania exported to Italy 47 per cent of the total of its exports. Also in imports, Italy takes the first place with 45 per cent of the total imports of Albania in 1998.

After Italy, Greece ranks second with Albanian exports with Greece in 1998 taking 20 per cent of the total volume and imports 29 per cent.

Trade exchanges with Germany have been almost constant during all these years. Germany takes the third place in the volume of trade exchanges of Albania and after 1998, exports covered 6 per cent of the total while imports took 4 per cent of the Albanian imports. /pas/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[20] Soccer-Matches of 20th week of National Championship held

Follow the results of today's match are:

Partizani - Lushnja 2 -1

Elbasani - Flamurtari 2 -1

Besa - Bylis 0 -1

Vllaznia - Skënderbeu 4 -0

Tomori - Dinamo 1 -0

Teuta - Shkumbini 2 -0

The first match of this week was held yesterday between Tirana and Apollonia with the result 2-0.

The last match of this week will be played on Sunday between the teams of Burrel and Lac. The match will be held in the Durres city. Standings following the 19th match:

40 points Tirana

38 " Vllaznia

37 " Bylis,

34 " Lushnja

31 " Shkumbini

30 " Tomorri

29 " Dinamo

28 " Partizani

26 " Skenderbeu

24 " Teuta

23 " Flamurtari, Besa, Elbasani 22 " Laçi (- 1)

21 " Apolonia

17 " Burreli (-1)

/dast/lm/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[21] Working group to verify distribution of 204 hectares in Korce set up

With an instruction of the Prime Minister, a group of chiefs of the Ministry of Agriculture and Food and of the Commission of the Restitution of Ownerships have had a meeting in the prefecture of Kosove with the local government leaders on the question of the distribution of the land which in 1994 was included within the yellow city line. /dast/xh/

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[22] Activity of youth against armed conflict in Kosove

Taking part in this activity held according to a project financed by the Italian Government in cooperation with the Albanian Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, are three Albanian youth associations and an Italian youth association.

On Saturday, the film "Welcome to Sarajevo" was shown in the youth centre. After the film, a debate was held on various questions aroused to the society from the use of violence.

"We are holding these activities not to find a solution but to propagate the need of the elimination of violence. The aim of the activity is to sensitize Albanian youths against violence, armed fighting and the use of force," said to ATA on Saturday the coordination of the centre for the Albanian party, Ermal Ilirjani. /dast/xh/

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[23] Project "Consolidation of public participation in territory administration in Albania" presented

The project is ideated and implemented by NGO-s partners of CIRC (Centre of Intervention Regional Cooperation) LEGAMBIENTE (League for Environment) and the Association for the Protection of Natural Environment in Albania.

According to this project, three partner associations will undertake a number of initiatives to increase the participation of the public in the integrated administration of the territory in Albania.

The activity realised by Italian and Albanian leading staff, covers various aspects such as the environmental formation and education, capability for communication with the ecological contest, general information on the administration of the protected zones, etc. /dast/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[24] NATO, the only guarantee for a stable Kosove and Balkans

As the press department of the Foreign Ministry told ATA, preceding from the latest efforts to deviate the NATO presence in Kosove as a guarantee to the implementation of the agreement, Minister Milo reiterated in the letter the stand of the Albanian Government and Parliament that the "NATO presence is a factor for stability not only in Kosove but in all the Balkan Peninsula and broader."

The letter says that "We share the concern of the political-military factor in Kosove referring to the efforts underway by Yugoslav authorities and a part of the international factor for the change of the status and the dependence of the peacekeeping troops envisaged in the accord draft."

In conclusion, Milo assured through his letter his counterparts that they will always have the support of the Albanian Government for the political process initiated in Rambouillet. He demanded support and guarantee for the realisation of this process which, according to Milo, "stem from the presence of the NATO troops in Kosove over the transitory period." /dast/xh/

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[25] Commando forces and a delta anti-terror force will assist forces of order - Albanian Premier

The statement of PM Majko for the mobilization of commando troops and the creation of an anti-terror operating force comes after the latest event in the city of Berat, in which 7 people were killed, among whom three were policemen.

Asked immediately after this statement by the Premier, the Minister of Defence, Luan Hajdaraga said that "this is a project which will be applied in a near future."

The commando troops are special forces who are trained in the military base of Zall Herr. In 1994, they assumed new features because their training and operations were made according to the structures of the western armies, especially those of NATO. During the last years, the commandos have taken part in a number of joint exercises with armies of NATO member countries and its partners. /dast/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[26] 90th anniversary of first Albanian school marked in Elbasan city

The passionate and professional work of hundreds of teachers and those who continue to work today in that school has raised to the contemporary levels the work in Naim Frasheri school.

Pupils of that school have been 42 martyrs of the nation, a People's Heroine, three Heros of Labour, 62 personalities of education. From the inauguration day up to this academic year the school has been attended by over 9000 pupils who have been taught by over 500 teachers.

With their untiring work, 12 teachers have been conferred the title People's Teacher and 16 others the title Merited Teacher.

In the 90th anniversary of this school, present were also, in addition to teachers and pupils of the school, representatives of the Ministry of Education, the Academy of Sciences, local government and of the University Aleksander Xhuvani in Elbasan. /dast/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[27] Kosova Parliament said "yes" to document of Rambouillet for a transitory solution towards independence

The parliament that emerged from the elections last year, convened today for the second time in a plenary session, led by the academic chairman Idriz Ajeti, and adopted a declaration "which supports the stance and commitment of the delegation of Kosove in the Rambouillet Conference." The declaration confirms that the "Parliament of the Republic backs up the agreement for a provisional transitory settlement for a three year period with a real and independent governing, but this agreement does not envisage a final solution and does not close the process for the independence of Kosove."

The Parliament of Kosove "insists in the international factor as an authoritative factor especially in the U.S., member countries of the EU and NATO, which, through an energetic mediation, must force Serbia and self- styled Yugoslavia to stop the criminal offensives towards the people of Kosove and to withdraw immediately the military, paramilitary and police units from Kosove."

The Parliament of Kosove "insists in its approach expressed previously too, that without an immediate energetic intervention of the NATO troops and without the presence and active care of the authorized international mechanisms in Kosove there can be no successful implementation of the agreement."

"The Parliament of the Republic reports that the transitory three year deadline is sufficient to prove again through the international presence the readiness and capability of the people of Kosove, of its state and political institutions that they are worthy to construct a civil and democratic society, based on their natural right to live freely in their independent state and as an important factor for stability in the region," stressed the statement.

Demanding from all "political and military institutions of Kosove to coordinate their acts in function of the common and major definition for the freedom and independence of Kosove," the Parliament of Kosove, through a declaration "voices its readiness for the ratification of the agreement for a transitory solution, signed by the delegation of Kosove.

At the beginning of today's meeting, in which the document of Rambouillet was discussed extensively, the deputies of the Parliament of Kosove kept a minute silence for all the Albanians who laid down their lives for the independence of Kosove and those killed by the Serb regime. Opening the plenary meeting of the Parliament of Kosove, the academic chairman Idriz Ajeti commemorated in his address also the great Assembly of Lezha, as an example for the present and the future of the unity of the Albanians and their efforts to come to terms and to face the situations." /xh/

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