Edi Rama

Witnessing the leaders of Serbia, Albania, and North Macedonia share a moment of collective jubilation is not something that happens every day, especially in a region known for its past rifts and differences.

But some businesses - their access to European markets limited - are licking their lips at the prospect of a single market of roughly 12 million people.

I am a Catholic, my wife is a Muslim, my two older children are Orthodox, said Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama, explaining that the decision to accept refugees from Afghanistan is not related to religion.

Albania's Ministry of Justice told BIRN on Tuesday that the new agreement with the UK would need to be ratified first by the Albanian parliament to enter into force and before initially dozens of criminals come to Albania to serve their sentences.

An arrangement has been reached to cancel border controls between Serbia, North Macedonia and Albania as of 1 January, 2023, President Aleksandar Vučić said in Skopje on Thursday.

Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said today that he was sorry that some in the region were against the "Open Balkans" initiative, because they would like to remain stuck in the 1990s and within closed borders.

The prime ministers of North Macedonia and Albania, Zoran Zaev and Edi Rama, are also taking part in the forum.
Vui was first handed letters of thanks for his help in the fight against coronavirus and donations of vaccines to North Macedonia. He thanked them and then announced the big plans that North Macedonia, Albania and Serbia have.

The leaders of Serbia, Albania and North Macedonia have criticized Brussels for its slow EU enlargement, promising to continue with its own travel zone and business zone while waiting for the bloc to receive them.
"We know that there is fatigue from EU enlargement," Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic said in an interview.

Their story, contained in court documents seen by BIRN, speaks to the well-placed connections that grease the wheels of Albanian drug trafficking, connections that in the case of Seferi and Ajdini stretched all the way to the security detail of the country's then interior minister.

Drug deal negotiated under police guard

Haque is one of 10 Bangladeshi workers employed by the INCA factory in Lezha. The manager says Albania no longer supplies enough labour, forcing him to seek workers far away.

"I plan to stay here for a long time because I have no other solution," Abudalep, 28, another Bangladeshi migrant employed at the INCA factory told BIRN. "In my country there is no work," he adds.