Albania, 2008

It is a

special pleasure for me to address the General

Assembly at its sixty-third session. Allow me to

congratulate the Assembly President on his election to

his high position. Albania welcomes cooperation with

him. I would like to take this opportunity to assure the

President of the full support of my country. I would

also like to express my highest praise to Secretary-

General Ban Ki-moon for his vision and continuous

efforts to revitalize and to reform our Organization, the

United Nations.

Allow me also to confirm Albania’s commitment

to a strong and coherent United Nations, capable of

successfully tackling the challenges we currently face.

We fully support the joint initiatives and actions aimed

at strengthening collective peace and security in order

to achieve sustainable and long-term development to

promote human rights and international cooperation.

We consider that reform of the Organization in all its

aspects is possible only through cooperation, dialogue

and consensus.

The global fight against terrorism, especially

through guaranteeing an effective response to this

collective threat, demands that the United Nations

continue to play a very important role. My country,

Albania, has very actively met its responsibilities in the

global fight against terrorism. In compliance with the

United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy,

which the General Assembly unanimously passed on

8 September 2006, Albania continues to be a stability

factor in the region and beyond through its moderating

and constructive policy. It contributes with

peacekeeping troops in the framework of the United

Nations and other security organizations in

Afghanistan, Iraq, Georgia and Bosnia and

Herzegovina. It recently deployed 68 troops to Chad as

part of the European Union-led peacekeeping force.

Albania is also working to enhance its domestic

capacities to enable a greater presence in aiding global

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peace and security by deepening its cooperation with

the United Nations in the field of peacekeeping

operations.

Albania has already become part of the United

Nations system-wide coherence effort for reform of the

Organization by willingly joining the One United

Nations initiative. It fully supports this project and is

actively working with United Nations agencies to secure

new ways of partnership in the fields of development,

humanitarian assistance and the environment. One United

Nations is being carried out in full respect for national

sovereignty and national ownership of development and

in compliance with the needs and priorities of our

country, especially of the integration to the European

Union (EU) and meeting the Millennium Development

Goals (MDGs).

As a pilot country, we are aware of this

responsibility, and we will do everything possible to

turn this initiative into a tangible success. In my

country the MDGs are not viewed simply as

development objectives, but also as a means for

growth. Albania has nationalized the MDGs by drafting

and following step-by-step implementation instructions

for the zonal strategies of development. It has also

added one more objective: that of good governance.

Keeping in mind experiences to date, meeting the

MDGs in countries with small and medium incomes

demands continuous support from the national

leadership, a more efficient use of resources and a

closer partnership among all the players — in

Governments, the international community and civil

society.

We are very active in the framework of the

Alliance of Civilizations, and we are convinced that

this initiative already presents a political instrument of

the United Nations to build peace in the broader

meaning of the term. Following up that commitment,

Albania has compiled a national strategy of

intercultural dialogue, which reflects the centuries-old

tradition of full religious harmony and understanding.

Climate change presents a global concern and

threat, and as such it affects my country as well.

Albania considers it a priority issue and assesses it in

the framework of the implementation of the One

United Nations initiative. It joins the international

community with determination in the challenge of

global climate change and modestly contributes to

reducing emissions quotas to secure a better and a

more developed future.

The world food crisis continues to be one of the

most complex challenges faced by humanity. It not

only affects the health and survival of millions of

people all over the world, but directly threatens

political and economic stability by seriously putting

into question the achievement of the MDGs. The

causes of this crisis are numerous and complex. As

such, they demand a multilevel, coherent and well-

coordinated response. My country hails the Secretary-

General’s establishment of the High-Level Task Force

on the Global Food Security Crisis.

Albania is undertaking a full programme of

institutional, economic and legal reforms through

which we aim to transform Albania into a country

attractive to foreign investments, with a market open to

free enterprise. I have the pleasure to point out that the

latest World Bank report listed Albania as second

among countries that have implemented successful

reforms to facilitate business practices during 2007 and

2008.

Albania has gained the status of a medium-

income country, and I believe that this progress must

be consolidated in compliance with the new challenges

of development. The national strategy for development

and integration has determined our vision for the next

seven years of Albania as a country of high democratic

standards, fully guaranteeing the fundamental human

rights, with its sustainable economic and social

development aimed at integrating into NATO and the

European Union, as well as harmonizing with the

MDGs — a country providing a better and safer life to

future generations.

Albania enjoys a solid and irreversible

relationship with the EU. The Stabilization and

Association Agreement serves as our guide, and the

primary objective is the conclusion of the ratification

agreement by the end of this year. The European

countries and the European Commission have invested

considerably in Albania. We have responded to this

contribution not only with natural gratitude, but also

with concrete commitments and with joint and

coordinated work programmes in the fields of good

governance, institutional functioning and economic

growth and in the fight against organized crime and

corruption.

39 08-51839

Albania’s path towards full Euro-Atlantic

integration is widely supported by the Albanian public

and its political spectrum. In particular, the invitation

to join NATO at the Bucharest Summit, the signing of

the alliance and the protocols on 8 July 2008 and the

ongoing ratification process all mark historic

achievements for Albania and are a positive assessment

of the new and tangible Albanian reality. Albania will

respond to this assessment with greater responsibility

and determination in the face of the obligation that

stems from full-fledged membership in the alliance,

which will serve peace and security not only in the

Balkans, but in the Mediterranean region and beyond.

Albania pays particular attention to the

strengthening of multilateral regional relations. It

seriously encourages the process of regional

cooperation by being an active partner in all of the

initiatives undertaken in South-East Europe. That

engagement serves to promote good neighbourliness,

strengthening security, building trust among the

regional countries, stability and full integration of all

the countries in the region in the Euro-Atlantic

structures.

Challenges such as the fight against terrorism,

organized crime, arms proliferation and border

management have an interlinked character that can be

overcome only through joint actions, initiatives and

commitment. We will continue to play the same

constructive role for our benefit and for that of the

whole region.

Albania considers the foundation of the

independent and sovereign State of Kosovo as the most

important historical event and development of our

region at the beginning of this century. An independent

and democratic Kosovo, oriented towards Euro-

Atlantic integration, is the just and most sustainable

solution. It is an example of the most successful

investment made by the international community

towards the implementation of the rule of law, to long-

term stability and peace and development in the

Balkans and beyond.

The independence of Kosovo finally frees that

part of Europe from the nightmare of war, of

inter-ethnic conflicts and of ethnic cleansing and

genocide. It fulfils and respects the free will of the

people to break free from political oppression,

historical injustices and the inability to develop.

Kosovo is no longer being led by the failed Yugoslavia,

nor by the new moderate Yugoslavs. It is being led by

the principles of a civilized Europe and those of the

universalized United Nations.

Albania encourages the people and the

Government of Kosovo in their commitment to build a

democratic and multi-ethnic society in which,

regardless of ethnic considerations, its every citizen

will feel like a free man in his home and on his

property. The new constitution of Kosovo and the

Ahtisaari package meet the highest standards of human

rights and offer widespread protection to all the

communities living in Kosovo, especially to the Serbs

of Kosovo.

We are convinced that, following the guidelines

of the Secretary-General of the United Nations, all

necessary actions will be taken as soon as possible: the

United Nations presence will be reconfigured and the

European Union Rule of Law Mission Kosovo —

EULEX — will be spread over the entire territory of

Kosovo, thus avoiding any vacuum of power and

imposition of competences on top of each other and

preventing any possible regressive attempt, regardless

of where it may have originated, against this Euro-

Atlantic process.

Albania deems as unfounded the efforts to draw

parallels between Kosovo and the regions of Georgia —

Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Numerous historical,

judicial, constitutional, political and demographic

arguments demonstrate that Kosovo is a unique case —

a sui generis case — and the solution implemented is

unique as well. As such, it does not and cannot serve as

a model to solve other conflicts either in the region or

beyond it. Any political, economic, military or

diplomatic endeavour against the consolidation or

soundness of the State of Kosovo would be a hopeless

attempt against its process of integration to NATO and

the EU, a regressive move against the investments and

progress that we so direly need, and it could not be

sold as valuable to the European Union. Historical

dreams must not darken the vision of the future.

Albania is convinced that the recognition of the

new State of Kosovo is in the interests of Kosovo,

Albania, Serbia and of all its close and distant

neighbours. It is in the interest of the European and

Mediterranean region. That is why Kosovo — this new

political, economical and social reality — fully

deserves to be a Member of our United Nations as soon

as possible. I call upon the Assembly to admit with

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realism this irreversible development by recognizing

and supporting, without any reserve, the Republic of

Kosovo.

Albania continues to remain committed to

cooperating with and enriching and fulfilling the

United Nations ideals by fully believing in the active

role of the international community as it faces the

present global challenges. In order to fulfil this

mission, we must all together give our support and

readiness to this Organization, which embodies not

only universal values, but also the aspirations of

humanity.