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.