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Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA), 98-10-03Albanian Telegraphic Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next ArticleFrom: The Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at <http://www.telpress.it/ata>Albanian Telegraphic AgencyCONTENTS
[01] Agricultural land in Albania reducing from constructionsTIRANE, Oct.2 (ata) - E Xhajanka: Agricultural land in Albania continues to be reduced due to numerous construction and the area of this category of land per capita is among the lowest in Europe. The distribution of the land on the basis of a law which started to be executed in 1991 has been understood by farmers that "I can do anything with my land," said to ATA Shpresa Leka, head of the Land Planning department.Consequently, thousands of hectares of land are occupied by buildings, mainly homes in the outskirts of Tirane and other big dwelling centres in Albania. On both sides of Tirane-Durres and Tirane-Fushe Kruje roads, there are hundreds of new villas set up in the middles of agricultural lands, specialists of the Land Institute in Tirane say. /xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[02] Coca-Cola company towards a 100 per cent Albanian administrationTIRANE, 2 (ATA) - The Coca Cola Company which conducts its activity in Albania for the production of refreshments, held a ceremony yesterday to introduce two new leaders, namely Flora Lami as general director and Ermira Pelinku in the post of the production director, both specialists of this company since its inauguration.The main shareholder of the company, Christina Busi said in the ceremony, "since the establishment of the factory in 1994, we have thought of having a 100 per cent Albanian leading staff and this became a reality." Busi highlighted the work of the newly-appointed leaders of the factory voicing the confidence that the production will have a considerable increase in the future. Ms Pelinku said to ATA that "in the summer season, the factory works in three shifts producing about 10 500 glass bottles and 21 000 plastic bottles a day." Besides the great investments made in the factory for the growth of production and extension of the storehouses, a considerable amount of money has also been invested to protect the products from false ones. Coca Cola company has actually 200 workers and about 400 others who are indirectly employed outside the factory. At present the factory produces about 800 million bottles a year and its production is completely for the domestic market. /xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[03] Secondary school 1 Maji in Vlore takes new name Mustafa Qemal AtaturkVLORE, Oct.3 (ata) - By H Koci: Secondary general school 1 Maji in the city of Vlore will be now after named after the renowned Turkish personality, the founder of modern Turkey, Mustafa Qemal Ataturk.On this occasion, a ceremony was held in the school which was also attended by the Turkey's Ambassador in Tirane, Ahmet Rifat Okcun, who uncovered the slab with the new name of the school. On this occasion, the Turkish embassy also donated to the school some computers, fax machine, school instruments, television sets in the context of a program for the modernization of that school. /pas/xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[04] $70 million for Albania's state budget from January-September, 1998DURRES, Oct.2 (ata) - By S Gjordeni: During the past 9 month period, the district of Durres encased in the state budget a total of over $70 million from the collection of taxes. The main weight in this amount of money is taken by the customs house of Durres.The director of the customs house told ATA that during the past 9 months, more than $60 million dollars or over 60 per cent more than in the same period last year, have been collected from the taxes. Also the branch of taxation registered a considerable increase in the revenues for this period of time. Its director Pellumb Rakipi said that the revenues for September were realised 114 per cent, while for the whole 9 month period the revenues were as high as over $10 million. Although this year's plan is 50 % higher than the last year, this branch aims to overfulfil the incomes from taxes and levies. /xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[05] Serb military forces open fire towards border station in Pogaj (Has)- Statement of spokesman of Public Order Ministry of Albania - TIRANE, Oct.2 (ata0 - At about 4.10 p.m. on Friday, in the region of the border sign D/65 in Pogaj of Has, (Albania) Serb military forces opened fire towards the border police station in Pogaj and the village Pogaj with infantry weapons, heavy machine guns, granades and mortars. The fire of weapons continued until 7.10 p.m. the moment when Albanian border police started a meeting with the Serb party.At 7.30 the fire of weapons resumed towards Pogaj and stopped at 8.00 p.m. The fire damaged slightly some homes of the village and livestock. The ministries of Public Order and Defence of Albania have adopted all the measures to secure the life of the regional people and to stop further escalation of the situation. The open attack on the territory of the Republic of Albania is a continuation of the provocations and attacks by Serb military machine made time and again. Serbia, threatened with a possible NATO military intervention, wants to involve the Republic of Albania in the conflict. /edk/xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[06] Testimonies complete charge for some people for participation in armed uprising of Sept.13,14 in TiraneTIRANE, Sept.2 (ata) - By Th Thanasi: Testimonies by people working in the institutions which were stormed during the violence of September 13 and 14 in Tirane, as well as those by people who happened to be present in the event, completed the charge of the Attorney's General Office for the armed uprising of Sept.13 and 14, the prosecutors charged to investigate this case told ATA.According to these sources, the testimonies threw light on some disputable points such as the possession of weapons by many people in the crowd on September 14, 1998. The testimonies prove clearly that the time between the moment when the coffin of Azem Hajdari was taken to the entrance of the Council of Ministers headquarters and the moment when fire opened by the crowd was very short, not to say inconsiderable, the prosecutors said, stressing that this runs counter to the opinion according to which the weapons were taken from the institutions that were stormed and from the army depot near the Albanian Radio-Television building. In the events in mid-September, various weapons were used such as pistols, automatic rifles, antitanks, light and heavy machine guns, grenades and bombs. /pas/xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[07] Albanian Government considers regional policy one of its priorities- From speech of Albania's Foreign Minister Paskal Milo in the U.N. Session -TIRANE, Oct.2 (ata) - By Enkelejda Koraqi: Albania's Foreign Minister Paskal Milo, who is leading the Albanian delegation in the 53d Session of the U.N. General Assembly, focused on the situation in Albania in his speech in the general debate of this session. Milo said that nearly three weeks ago, violent events took place in Albania aiming to hit the fragile democratic institutions which were being established in the country following the grave crisis of 1997. "Set political forces who lost the power after the free elections of June 1997, did evidently instigat groups of armed people to storm and occupy the main state institutions," said Albanian Foreign Minister. He expressed his thanks to the international community for the support it offered to Albania in these difficult days. The Albanian Government, said Mr Milo, is working to establish a stable rule of law. "With the broad participation of the Albanian political forces we are engaged in the drafting of the new Constitution," said Milo, pointing out that the new Constitution will be voted by the Albanian people by the end of this year. Speaking of Albania's commitment to the process of Euro-Atlantic integration, Milo said that this process has to do with the creation of acceptable national standards according to the joint values of the Euro- Atlantic community. He added that the Albanian Government considers the regional policy a priority and is devoting a very great attention to it. Minister Milo pointed out that the Albanian Government has worked and is working carefully to improve the bilateral relations, first of all with its neighbours. /pas/xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[08] Budgetary deficit in Albania during August equal with 5.2 per cent of annual planned GDPTIRANE, Oct.3 (ata) - By Lolita Thanasi: The changes of the growth rate of the revenues compared to the expenses made the budgetary deficit during August be higher and higher. According to statistics of the Bank of Albania, now it consists nearly 5.2 per cent of the annual planned GDP amounting to 23.3 billion lek from 19.8. billion lek that was at the end of July, 1998.During this period, the financing of the deficit has been realised mainly through internal sources and only 1.8 billion lek have been externally funded. /xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[09] European governments should not postpone decision to intervene in Kosove - Albanian Helsinki CommitteeTIRANE, Oct.3 (ata) - By Enkelejda Koraqi: The international community, competent bodies and organizations, the main governments of Europe must not put off the decision for intervention in Kosove, writes a press release of the Albanian Helsinki Committee."The U.N Security Council turned urgently to the question without waiting the regular meeting, but it only sent warnings to Milosevic," writes the press release. Citing the Commissioner of the Council of Europe, Emma Bonino, the press release stressed that Ms Bonino pointed to the essence of the question when she said that "there was hope that Milosevic might be part of the solution to the problem, while now it is clear that he himself is part of the problem." "Milosevic is not subdued before verbal messages. Any further hesitation by the international community is a fatal tolerance opening the way to other miseries against civil population. The tragedy of the Albanian people of Kosove jars into the consciousness of all mankind if the bloody fury of Serb chauvinism is not halted," writes the press release at the end. /pas/xh/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[10] Military drill "Bridges of Peace '98" at final stageTIRANA, Oct. 3 (ATA) - By E. Koraqi: The multinational military drill "Bridges of Peace '98," which is being held in Istanbul, marked Saturday the final stage of military operations.Participating in this exercise is also a unit of the Kukes Division. The interest of the Turkish and NATO military personalities is very high, even for the fact that Turkey has been chosen by NATO countries as leader of the exercise scenario, the spokesman of the Kukes division, Azem Perllaku, told ATA. The military drill "Bridges of Peace '98" aims at increasing the cooperation between the armies of the region in the framework of Partnership for Peace in order to resolve the problems in case of conflicts. /pas/mt/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[11] Opening of political process in Kosova cannot be realized without NATO intervention, KDLPRISHTINA, Oct. 3 (ATA) - The Democratic League of Kosova (KDL) stressed through a statement that the political process for the solution of the Kosova issue can be realized only after the military intervention of NATO and with the presence of the international factor in the negotiations between Prishtina and Belgrade, the Kosova Information Center reports.The KDL, knowing the nature of the Serb regime of Milosevic, the Serb ideology based on the myth on Kosova and by seeing the brutality and consequences of the Serb aggression in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, has requested times before a preventive policy of the international community in Kosova, says the statement. According to it, the outbreak of violence with the armed Serb aggression in a major part of Kosova, has extremely aggravated the dimensions of the Albanian-Serb hostility and in such a situation, the violence cannot be stopped, the political process cannot start for the solution of the Kosova issue without a resolute intervention and assistance of the international community. /p.ta/mt/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[12] Albania PM meets senior officials of Ministry of Public OrderTIRANA, Oct. 3 (ATA) - By Urim Bajrami: "It is not occasionally that I am holding my first visit here, as you are the defenders of law and state and this was proved on September 14," Albania Prime Minister Pandeli Majko declared in the meeting with the senior officials of the Ministry of Order on Saturday.Accompanied by the deputy Premier, Ilir Meta, and the new Minister of Public Order, Petro Koci, PM Majko has discussed with the staff of this ministry. To the Prime Minister "it is high time that the order forces should pass from the defence of the state institutions into attacks against crime and traffics of any kind, this with eliminating effects," says a report of Order Ministry spokesman. While the deputy Premier, Ilir Meta, stressed that "the order is restored when order is restored in the order structures," and "the order is the problem of the whole Albanian society today." The Minister of Public Order, Petro Koci, focused on the necessity of "the real depoliticization of the order forces," as well as on the fact the "the police should become an honored part of the Albanian society," ends the report of the spokesman of the Ministry of Public Order. /pas/mt/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[13] Wages of police forces to be increasedTIRANE, Oct.3 (ATA) By Urim Bajrami Financial motivation of the police was one of the issued discussed in the first meeting of the new Cabinet of Ministers, headed by Pandeli Majko.Not only the recompenses provided to the police forces but also the redoubling of their salaries were discussed after the coup d'etat September 14, 1998. A project which foresees to levy a tax on the businesses was drafted. According to this project, some 7 000 big businesses will pay VAT and the taxes of 30 000 leks per month; 10 000 small businesses in the city will pay the taxes of 2 500 leks per month; 10 000 small businesses in the country will pay 2 500 leks per month and the officials of the state sectors will pay a monthly tax of 500 leks. All these consist an annual fund of 3.3 billion leks, which will provide the incomes for the increase in salaries of police forces, so the financial motivation reaches 10 000 leks. The project was discussed in the first meeting the Cabinet of the Ministers held and it is due to be approved in the following days. "Hoping that the Albanians will understand us, we will carry on the same initiative with former Finance Minister, Arben Malaj, regarding the salaries' increase of police forces," Anastas Angjeli, new Finance Minister stated. /s.s./lola/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[14] PM Majko introduces new Minister of FinancesTIRANA, Oct. 3 (ATA) - By D. Koca: In the grounds of the Ministry of Finances, Albania's Prime Minister Pandeli Majko, accompanied by the deputy Premier and Minister of Government Coordination, Ilir Meta, presented before the staff of the Ministry of Finances the new Minister of Finances, Anastas Angjeli."This is the second visit I am holding today in a Ministry, after the visit in the Ministry of Public Order," stated Premier Majko, adding that "the finances will be the priorities of the Albanian Government." PM Majko strongly stressed that the new administration should work harder for the encouragement of the private business and the fight against smuggling and corruption. Minister Angjeli presented the priorities of the work to be done by the staff of this ministry, focusing on strengthening of public finances. He said that "we will continue the work for the implementation of the state budget of 1998 and we will observe a budget financial policy in accordance with the monetary crediting policy. "This commitment will be in center of talks to be held by our delegation in the United States with the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank," said Angjeli. He stressed the necessity of restructuring the Customs and Tax Administration according to the European standards, as well as the security of a macro-economic stability and a better financial administration. "We are resolute to support the fiscal policies according to the IMF recommendations," said Minister Angjeli. /mt/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[15] Tirana establishes sister-city relations with BursaTIRANE, Oct.3 (ATA) By G.Dilaveri Tirana has established sister-city relations with Bursa (Turkey). The decision was confirmed at a regular meeting of the capital's Municipal Council. The Bursa city-hall had earlier approved the Tirana's request for sister-city relations.The Turkish Embassy in Tirana has earmarked a fund for school reconstruction and territorial adjustment in the capital. Tirana has so far established sister-city relations with the cities of Rome, Moscow, Marseilles, Ankara, Sarajevo, Geneva and Ljubljana./dast/lola/lm/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[16] Premier Majko meets senior defence officersTIRANA, Oct.3 (ATA) - By E.Koraqi, Albania's new Prime Minister Pandeli Majko met with senior officers of the Defence Ministry on Saturday.Majko praised the sublime performance and devotion of the officers of this Ministry and guaranteed to the Albanian militaries maximum support by the Albanian government to resolve the problems of the Army. "It is high time for the Albanian political class to provide the army with maximum support in this difficult situation prevailing on Albania's northern border," Majko stated. "The situation in Kosova has assumed very dramatical proportions, which might require an intensive development of relations with our partners to guarantee peace in the Balkans," said Majko. /dast/lola/lm/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[17] Fighting on Kosova-Albania border beltPRISHTINE, Oct 3/ ATA correspondent in Prishtine Behlul Jashari reports:Fierce fighting has resumed on the border with Albania, in the suburbs of Gjakove, where the Yugoslav Army forces have been bombarding Albanian villages since by midnight. Democratic League of Kosova sources report that Serbian forces, backed by tanks and other heavy weaponry, continue to move towards the border belt, while powerful explosions are heard throughout the region of Reke e Keqe. There are no immediate reports of consequences. A grave situation continues to reign also in other regions of the Gjakova commune where Serbian forces continue to stay at fighting positions and arrest Albanians. Since last night the Serb forces have also been attacking the village of Dragobil of Malisheve. /dast/lm/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[18] Heavy rain damaged Durres streetsDURRES, Oct. 3 (ATA) - By G.Kabashi: A furious heavy rain, that started at about 6 p.m on Friday and lasted for about 2 hours, brought through capilar streets comming down from the hills towards "A.Goga" street, a considerable amount of pebbles and mud which damaged several slabs in the main boulevard of Durres district.Alqi Kadenasi, Secretary General of the district, told ATA that such a situation was mainly caused because of blocking of some kilometres long channel of raining water and because of abusive buildings around or over it. Kadenasi added that the pomp station of Portio Romano, which pours into the sea extra water from the ex- swamp, has normally operated. The grave situation in this area where 1500 families displaced from the northeastern regions live, is created because of buildings which are set up without any kind of infractructure, and because the first and second channels used for running of waters in case of flood, are heavily damaged. /pas/A.A/ Albanian Telegraphic Agency[19] Documentary film "Rruget" soon in Prix Europa FestivalTIRANE, Oct 3 (ATA) - By E.Riza: Documentary film "Rruget" ("The streets"), of the renowned Albanian producer of this genres, Mevlan Shanaj, is to be presented soon in Germany to participate in Prix Europe Festival 1998, that will be held from Oct. 17-25.It's the second time that this film takes part in an international festival. In May of this year this film has competed in Geneva. Soros Foundation rewarded this film the first prize in 1997. "Rruget" is either an emancipating or a naive film," told ATA the director Shanaj. The author, the voice of whom is the only one through all the documentary film, asserts that "the distances are the last 100 metres of the way leading me to the work and 100 metres of my house path". /pas/A.A/ From the Albanian Telegraphic Agency (ATA) Home Page at http://www.telpress.it/ataAlbanian Telegraphic Agency Directory - Previous Article - Next Article |