Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), 98-05-08

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

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

CONTENTS

[01] I don't believe rumors of new factions in SP

[02] Brojka praises cooperation between central and local governments

[03] Commission for Constitution discusses institution of "People's Attorney"

[04] File of 21st Division helps investigation into smuggling by Prosecutor's Office

[05] Experts consider elimination of looted ammunition in Albania

[06] Bitincka mine to resume work soon

[07] Productive sectors to earn priority assistance

[08] New customs' code in accordance with EU standards

[09] Men preferred instead of women in job hiring

[10] Kosova must not go into the spiral of endless violence - Rugova

[11] Albania's President sends a message to Italian President

[12] Albania to sign charter of local autonomy

[13] CoE to help local govt. in Albania

[01] I don't believe rumors of new factions in SP

Brokaj said that he would be active in his activity in the SP structures with his ideas and points of view.

Brokaj, who resigned from Cabinet Nano two weeks before the president decreed his release from the post proposed by the head of the government, said that "I don't believe rumors in the press of a new SP faction led by Majko, Blushi and Meta."

"I have read of such ideas in the press and if they were true that would be a political game," said Brokaj. He added that Majko, Blushi and Meta, besides their different ages, have other difference including their stand in set political moments.

Former defence Minister Brokaj, whose divorce with the PM Fatos Nano, was shaped a month ago when Nano said to him in a meeting of the General Leading Council of SP that "our roads part here not for political questions or ideas but for moral questions," said that the PM is seeking to exploit the three young members of SP for his own aims." /a.ke/pas/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[02] Brojka praises cooperation between central and local governments

"The cooperation between the central and local governments is for the moment good but this cooperation must be materialized in the future," said Brojka.

He stressed the need for a decetralization of the local government, especially its financial decentralization.

With regard to the signing of the Charter of Local Autonomy in Strasbourg at this end of this month, Haegi said that Albania is experiencing an important stage, that of confirmation of local autonomy which must be expressed in legal texts. He said that the legal texts should be taken into consideration while drafting the constitution and "they must be clear and create a sort of security for the local government."

Speaking of the financial decentralization, Heagi said that "it is true that the local government cannot be autonomous without being financially autonomous, but we must also bear in mind the other fact that the country is in a difficult economic situation." /a.ke/pas/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[03] Commission for Constitution discusses institution of "People's Attorney"

According to the draft, the "People's Attorney" will be elected by the People's Assembly and will have the immunity and the level of a minister. One of his tasks is to prepare an annual report to be submitted to the Parliament to defence the human rights and freedoms from illegal acts in structures of the public administration. The attorney is independent and renders account only before the People's Assembly. He must not be a political party member and must not carry out any other political, state or professional activities.

According to the spokesman of the commission, the People's Attorney has the right to make recommendations and propose measures when he notices any violation of the human rights and freedoms by the public administration.

The commission will work in Lezhe until Saturday. It convened in that small city in Northwestern Albania so that the commission members be not parallely involved in their other duties (some are party leaders or government members.) /a.ke/pas/xh/

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[04] File of 21st Division helps investigation into smuggling by Prosecutor's Office

Based on the materials in the file, the Prosecutor gathered facts for the itinerary of the ship Demon and for the smuggling in large amounts in one of the southern cities of Albania, in which the transportation of smuggled commodities was realised by the ship, speedboats and then by long vehicles.

The dossier carries information on trafficking in great quantities for a period more than a year ago.

The Albanian-flagged 150 ton ship, Demon, was seized in January near the lagoon of Karavasta, in Adriatic, by the Italian Coastal Guard, in cooperation with the Albanian border police forces, with about 30 tons of smuggled cigarette boxes on board. The ship was loaded in the Greek port of Igumenica and a part of the charge was unloaded before it reached the port of Vlore. According to the documents, Demon had to be unloaded in the port of Dubrovnik, but in fact, the Albanian market was the destination of the smuggled cigarettes. /a.ke/pas/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[05] Experts consider elimination of looted ammunition in Albania

The department of public relations in the Albanian Defence Ministry reports that the inspections were made in the zones of Gjader in Shkoder, Suc and Selenice in Mat, Picar in Gjirokaster, Palikesht, Mbrezhdan and Gjeroven in Berat.

A conference will be held in Tirane soon with representatives from NATO, OSCE, EU, UN member countries and various organizations and associations inside and outside Albania, to discuss a solution to the question of the ammunition which presently are out of the depots in some zones of the country and which present a threat to the inhabitants there. /s.sh./pas/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[06] Bitincka mine to resume work soon

Thus, is being implemented between the Greek company Narko and the mine's managing staff. After the first preliminary phase was over,the second and the last one is almost finished.

Meanwhile Albanian side is preparing the necessary documents for the equipment to be used in the mine, extracting and transporting the mineral in cooperation with the Albanian customs.

The agreement with Greek company Narko signed late February enables the resumption of work at Bitincka mine, south east Albania, which had suspended its activity for years.

The work is divided into two stages, during the first will be extracted 50,000 tonnes of nickel ore with the assistance of Greek company's technology.

In the second phase is aimed the extraction of 200,000 tonnes of mineral, which will influence in the development of the mine and the employment of the inhabitants of the area.

The reserves of the iron nickel mineral in this mine are estimated at 100 million tonnes.

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[07] Productive sectors to earn priority assistance

last year damage, in order to be achieved the 1998 production goals, sources from the macroeconomics department at the ministry of Development and Economic Cooperation said Friday.

During the meetings conducted in this ministry, alongside the continuation of the investment in the infrastructure, Government should provide a better assistance for productive sectors.

According to the same sources is being worked to adopt the short and mid term strategies of before crisis with the current situation the country is experiencing.

The programme of economic recovery is based on the implementation of an austere budget policy, with the main goal incomes increase.

This growth is based in the achieved economic recovery after the implementation of the emergency program and also forecasts concrete measures to reduce the fiscal evasion and improvement of tax and customs administration work.

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[08] New customs' code in accordance with EU standards

A new important element is the method of calculating the imported goods value, which will reflect the real price of the goods avoiding so the artificial increase of prices.

Also to prevent the smugglers from violation customs procedures are predicted tough measures, like fines ranging from 50 thousand to 1 million lek, for those that their goods do not surpass the amount of 5 million lek, while for others that surpass this value besides the fine will be penally prosecuted.

Other elements like the compiling authentic certificates by state authorities and not by the Chamber of Commerce, the limit of keeping the documents by the traders etc will better complement this imports document.

Also in order to promote the investments, a new liberal policy will be pursued regarding customs' duties for all private enterprises that have received the exclusivity or have clearly influenced in creating new jobs.

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[09] Men preferred instead of women in job hiring

Base on the same study the workforce in 1996 was composed of 510,000 women, while in 1997 the number dropped to over 507,000 women.

Observing the unemployment rate in women, it is has risen. Out of 70, 000 unemployed women in 1996, the number rose to 84,000 in 1997.

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[10] Kosova must not go into the spiral of endless violence - Rugova

"The most important thing is to save the people of Kosova," said Rugova, confirming the stand for "a continuous peaceful policy," which, as he said, is the political will of the majority of the citizens of Kosove. President Rugova expressed once more the readiness to negotiate with Belgrade in the presence of a third party and in a neutral country, stressing that this is also the international opinion. He hailed the continuous commitment of the U.S, which was also expressed in the latest Clinton-Prodi meeting and the stand of the Italian Prime Minister along with all international positive commitments and reactions for the settlement of the question of Kosova.

Rugova considered the violence and killing of Albanian political and humanitarian activists, especially those of the LDK, as deliberate acts of Belgrade with the aim of eliminating the political movement in Kosove. He demanded an urgent delivery of international humanitarian aid in the isolated regions, in which, as Rugova said, Serb forces have not allowed that aid with food article and medicaments pass into for the local people. /p.ta./pas/xh/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[11] Albania's President sends a message to Italian President

"I learnt with deep grief about the death of a large number of people due to the floods in the zone of Campania, Southern Italy.

Please Excellency, accept the deepest condolences for the relatives of the victims on my personal name and the Albanian people, too.

I express the conviction that the excellent relations between the two countries will develop without interruption to the good of prosperity, peace and development in the troubled region, where the fate has destined us to live together." /a.ke/das/mt/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[12] Albania to sign charter of local autonomy

Dedja said this in response to the reservations expressed by the Tirana Mayor Albert Brojka, who was also head of the Albanian delegation in the annual session of the Congress of the Local and Regional Authorities, where Albania

was going to sign the charter.

"A government decision issued a month ago said that the principles of the Charter of the Local autonomy would not be signed in all its articles due to the circumstance Albania was facing," Brojka said.

Opposing the Tirana Mayor, Dedja insisted that "the charter will be signed on May 26 and the basic principles will be necessarily present in the new constitution, in its special chapter on local government." ake/das/ak/

Albanian Telegraphic Agency

[13] CoE to help local govt. in Albania

According to President's press and information department, Hagi familiarized President Meidani with the results of his meetings in different institutional levels.

He expressed his appreciation for the positive steps made towards the solution of problems in local government through the establishment of a ministry, as well as the readiness to assist in the solution of these problems from the Council of Europe through different contacts or through a stable presence in Albania. Hagi also voiced the readiness of the Council of Europe to monitor the partial local elections, which will be held in June of this year.

President Meidani shared with the European personality the same conviction that there is a positive cooperation in the local government between representatives of different parties, a cooperation which should be also extended in the central and local levels of the Albanian politics.

"I have been against the conduct of early local elections and I appreciate the equilibrium created as a guarantee for the functioning of democracy," stressed Meidani.

Further on, he stressed the economic and social problems the country is going through and which, according to him, "influence on the level of democracy."

Meidani voiced the necessity of increasing foreign investments in Albania in order to have under control the social and economic movements of people. /a.ke/das/mt/

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

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