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 2006-07 Australian exports to Albania were valued at A$0.57 million with sales of butter accounting for about 70 per cent of all exports. Imports from Albania for the same period were valued at A$0.21 million and consisted mainly of footwear.
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 2005 and 2006 the Embassy contributed a total of A$30,000 to an IOM affiliated NGO ‘Different and Equal’, which provides shelter and re-integration to the victims (and children) of sexual trafficking.
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 3.5 million (July 2003 est.), 95 per cent of whom are ethnic Albanians, is growing at the rate of 1.03% (July 2003 est.). The main minority groups are Greeks (3 per cent) and Vlachs, Romany, Serbians and Bulgarians (2 per cent) (1989 est.). 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 in July 2005. The Democratic Party of Albania (DPA) and its coalition partners, party of former President Sali Berisha, won an absolute majority with 73 of 140 seats while the Socialist Party of Albania (SPA) obtained 64 seats.
The Albanian Cabinet consists of a Council of Ministers who are nominated by the Prime Minister and approved by the President. Prime Minister Sali Berisha and his new cabinet were sworn in on 11 September 2005. Berisha has reduced the number of ministries from 19 to 14. He stated the focus of the government would be the consolidation of democratic institutions, the fight against corruption and the improvement of public order, with the aim of guiding Albania towards membership in EU and NATO structures. Albania signed a Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the EU in July 2006 which binds it to undertaking necessary legislative, governance and administrative reforms for eventual EU candidacy. The performance of the Berisha government will be important in determining how quickly Albania can implement reforms for their hopes of EU accession in 2015.
The People's Assembly elects the President for a five-year term, with the current presidency ending in 2012.
A constitution was adopted by popular referendum on 28 November 1998 despite a boycott by the Democratic Party.
Recent Political Developments
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 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. Albania's formerly poor relations with the FRY 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 the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia likewise improved following parliamentary elections in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia in September 2002, which produced a coalition government with a strong ethnic Albanian presence.
The Albanian Government has remained committed to ensuring stability in Kosovo and strongly supports Kosovo's integration into regional and European structures. Albania is looking to cement its ties with the US and continues to seek to undertake the reforms necessary to progress towards desired NATO membership in 2008. While still lacking governance and administrative capacity, 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 EU, US and other national and international agencies – including the AFP and AUSTRAC.
Economic Overview
The former communist regime pursued a policy of economic isolation, leaving the economy devastated when the communist regime and the centrally planned system collapsed in 1991. There followed a difficult period of transition to democracy under Sali Berisha, and in 1997 the collapse of nationwide pyramid finance schemes sparked a large-scale rebellion that ended with a proclamation of a state of emergency. Relative stability has returned and Albania is now making the difficult transition to a more open-market economy.
Twenty-one per cent of Albania is fertile, arable land. It has untapped natural resources (including chrome - accounting for about 10 per cent of the world's supply, copper, nickel and petroleum), and Albania has a strong human resource base (a young population and a national literacy rate of 86.5 per cent). The median age is 28.5 years and 57 percent of the workforce is employed in agriculture, with the rest in industry and services. Unemployment officially stands at 14.5 per cent, although unofficial estimates put it as high as 30 per cent.
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's economy grew by an estimated 5.5 per cent in 2006, similar to growth rates of around 6 per cent for last few years. Annual inflation rate was around 3 per cent. In June 2002, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) approved a three-year arrangement under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) for US$36 million to Albania. In its annual progress report in July 2003, the IMF and World Bank concluded that the country's efforts toward implementation of the strategy showed continued commitment to reduction of poverty and as such, provide a credible framework for continued concessional assistance.
Albania remains an extremely poor country by European standards, with 25 per cent of the population living below the poverty line (2004 EST.). Around 30 per cent of Albania’s GDP results from remittances from upward of 700,000 (possibly as high as 1.2 million) Albanians working abroad, mostly in Greece and Italy. Workers remittances and foreign aid are expected to continue to offset a widening trade deficit.
Last updated: 8/01/2008