Albania

Albania, covering a surface of 28,748 sq km, is placed in the Southern part of the Balkans. Facing the Mediterranean Sea, the country borders on Fed. Republic of Yugoslavia, Macedonia and Greece. The territory - known in ancient times as Illyria - was long dominated by Greeks and Latins before becoming part, in 395 AD, of the Byzantine Empire.

Albania remains a young and rather unstable democracy. The medium term interest of the country is often sacrificed to shorter/term, narrower political interest. Consolidation of democratic culture is essential to bring about necessary reforms.

The tremendous financial crisis - due to the major restructuring of the economic system - that had affected the country in the 1988-1992 period seemed to have come to an end when, with a sudden inversion of trends, Albanian rate of growth exceeded those of most Eastern European countries.

A great number of Albanians (roughly 15% of the urban population and 30% of the rural population) still lives in poverty, despite the Governmental plans to eradicate the problem. Corruption among officials remains widespread and results in major dispersion of public resources made available for this purpose.