Foreign relations of Albania

In a meeting held on Thursday, Bushati told them that the dialogue between Belgrade and Pristina should be concluded with an agreement on mutual recognition and comprehensive normalization of relations between Serbia and Kosovo, Albanian news agency ATA reported.

BELGRADE (Sputnik) - NATO is planning to build its first air base in the Western Balkans near the municipality of Kucove in central Albania, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama said on Saturday.

According to the Albanian Defence Minister, Olta Xhacka who spoke to reporters on Tuesday, Tirana want the United States to set up a military base on Albanian soil, so that the country could counter Russia's influence.

Albania's Prime Minister Edi Rama warned Balkan countries are threatened by Russian influence, Macedonian news agency McFax reports, quoted by Focus.

The speaker of Macedonian parliament, Talat Xhaferi, has told BIRN's TV show Jeta ne Kosove'that if President Gjorge Ivanov again refuses to sign the new language law, after parliament voted for it for a second time, he will breach his constitutional rights.

The gathering is held in Sarajevo, and hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs of Bosnia-Herzegovina Igor Crnadak, the Serbian government has announced.

Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has suggested that one day Kosovo and Albania could have "a common president as a symbol of national unity," the France press reported.

European Union foreign ministers disagreed on Thursday over a proposal by the bloc's executive to push for expansion into the Western Balkans, a region still scarred by ethnic wars fought in the 1990s and dogged by a reputation for lawlessness.

EU's new strategy "holds out the prospect that two countries could 'potentially' be ready to join the EU by 2025."

These are Serbia and Montenegro, writes the website Politico, in a piece dedicated to EU's enlargement strategy for the Western Balkans, unveiled on Tuesday.

BELGRADE/VIENNA - Western Balkan countries need a new model of growth based on higher productivity and investments, higher exports and a higher share of the private sector in the economy, the World Bank said Thursday.