Albania Country Brief

Bilateral Relations

Australia first established diplomatic relations with Albania in 1985 when the isolationist communist regime established by Enver Hoxa following WWII was still in power. Non-resident accreditation to Albania is held by the Australian Ambassador in Athens while the Albanian Ambassador to China, resident in Beijing, is accredited to Australia. Albania is represented in Australia by an Honorary Consulate-General in Adelaide. The 2006 Census recorded 11,315 people of Albanian ancestry living in Australia.

Trade between Australia and Albania is small. In 2008, Australian exports to Albania were valued at A$0.95 million with sales of butter accounting for about 55 per cent of all exports. Imports from Albania for the same period were valued at A$0.29 million and consisted mainly of clothing.

In recent years, the Australian Government and a number of humanitarian aid organisations such as the Children First Foundation and the Melbourne Overseas Missions have provided financial and humanitarian assistance to Albania. Through the Embassy in Athens, Australia has financially supported several social and environmental programs in Albania. For example, in 2008-09, the Embassy contributed a total of A$15,000 to NGOs, for example for child development projects and to improve facilities at an obstetrics hospital in Tirana.

General Overview

The Republic of Albania is a small, mountainous country on south-eastern Europe's Balkan Peninsula, bordering the Adriatic Sea to the west and with land borders to Greece to the south and Serbia and Montenegro to the east. Albania occupies an important strategic location in the Balkans along the Strait of Otranto which links the Adriatic Sea to the Ionian Sea and the Mediterranean Sea. The name Albania is derived from an ancient Illyrian tribe, the Albanoi, forebears of the modern Albanians. The Albanian name for the country is Shqiperise or ‘Land of the Eagle'. The capital of Albania is Tirana.

Albania's population of 3.6 million (2009 est). The main minority groups are Greeks and Vlachs, Romany, Serbians and Bulgarians. In November 1990, religious practice was permitted after prohibition by the communist government in 1967. Seventy per cent of Albanians are Muslims, 20 per cent Albanian Orthodox and 10 per cent Roman Catholic.

Political System

Albania's political system is a presidential parliamentary democracy. The Parliament of Albania consists of a unicameral assembly known as the ‘People's Assembly’ or ‘Kuvendi Popullor’. The assembly holds 140 seats; 100 are elected by direct popular vote and 40 by proportional vote for four year terms.

The most recent elections for the assembly were held on 28 June 2009. The incumbent Prime Minister, Sali Berisha, was unable to secure an outright majority, winning 47.5 per cent of the votes (70 of the 140 seats). The opposition Socialist Party Coalition led by Edi Rama, won 38.8 per cent and the centre-left Socialist Party for Integration led by former Prime Minister Ilir Meta won 6.5 per cent. On 9 September 2009, Albanian President Bamir Topi appointed Mr Sali Berisha as Prime Minister for another four years. Berisha’s new government incorporates members of the Socialist Movement for Integration, the Republican Party and the Party for Democracy and Integration. The coalition government’s key objective is to move Albania towards European Union accession. The People's Assembly elects the President for a five-year term, with the current presidency of Mr Bamir Topi ending in 2012.

Mr Bamir Topi, Deputy Chairman of the ruling Democratic Party, was elected President in July 2007 replacing Alfred Moisiu. A popular moderate in Albanian politics, Topi has been elected a member of parliament three times since the end of communism in 1991.

Topi won 85 votes in the presidential ballot, one more than the minimum 84 required under the constitution. This came after 3 failed ballots where none of the presidential candidates achieved the required number. The deadlock that threatened to push the country to early elections was ended when some members of the opposition Socialist Party crossed the floor to vote for Topi.

Foreign Relations

Albania joined NATO on 1 April 2009, following formal agreement to its accession at the Bucharest Summit in April 2008, and is a potential candidate country for accession to the European Union (EU). Albania is also a contributor of troops to the International Security Assistance Force.

Albania is a participant in the European Commission's Stabilisation and Association Process (SAP), which provides a strategic framework for bringing stability to the Balkans through achievement of a series of political and economic reform milestones, together with targeted financial aid to assist structural improvements.

The Albanian Government strongly supported the NATO intervention in Kosovo, turning over key facilities to NATO during the period of the conflict with the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY). Following the commencement of NATO air strikes on 24 March 1999, 465,000 refugees from Kosovo crossed into Albania. The Kosovo Peace Plan was adopted by the UN Security Council on 10 June 1999 and the subsequent deployment of the NATO Peace Keeping Force in Kosovo (KFOR) prompted the spontaneous return of tens of thousands of refugees. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) established an assistance program for the voluntary repatriation of the refugees and by 1 September 1999, 432,500 refugees had returned to Kosovo from Albania.

The Government has remained committed to ensuring stability in Kosovo and has continued to call for the protection of the rights of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and the northern Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM). Albania's formerly poor relations with FYROM during the 1990s improved following the removal from power of the late Slobodan Milosevic in 2000 which opened the way to the eventual restoration of full diplomatic relations in late 2002. Relations between Albania and FYROM likewise improved following parliamentary elections in FYROM in September 2002, which produced a coalition government with a strong ethnic Albanian presence.

Albania has been responsible for a number of initiatives and played a constructive role in the region and willingness to address the issue of people smuggling over the Adriatic and Ionian Seas. It has also made progress in addressing money laundering and organised crime issues in partnership with the EU, the US and other national and international agencies – including the AFP and AUSTRAC.

Economic Overview

Albania is now making the difficult transition to a more open-market economy. Over the last five years, macroeconomic growth has averaged 5 per cent. Inflation is stable and low. The government has introduced measures to reduce crime, and has implemented a fiscal reform package to improve the economy and attract foreign investment.

Twenty per cent of Albania is fertile, arable land. It has untapped natural resources (including chrome - one of Albania's most important sources of hard-currency income), and Albania has a strong human resource base (a young population and a national literacy rate of 98.7 per cent). The median age is 29.9 years and 58 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture, with the rest in industry and services. Unemployment officially stands at 12.5 per cent (2008 est.)

Although agriculture is Albania's largest sector, it is yet to modernise and small landholders predominate. Albania's main industries include food processing, textiles and clothing, lumber, oil, cement, chemicals, mining, basic metals and hydropower. Export commodities include textiles and footwear, asphalt, metals and metallic ores, vegetables and tobacco.

Albania remains an extremely poor country by European standards, with 25 per cent of the population living below the poverty line (2004 EST.). Around 15 per cent of Albania’s GDP results from remittances from Albanians working abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy. Workers’ remittances and foreign aid are expected to continue to offset a widening trade deficit.

Whilst the Albanian economy has been partially sheltered from the global financial crisis, the impact has materialized in a slower economic growth.