News Story
03 April 2008 Albanian leaders have welcomed a formal invitation to join NATO.

“This is the most important decision in the history of Albanian people,” President Bamir Topi proclaimed.

“With this decision we are definitely separated from Yalta,” he said, referring to the 1945 summit during the Second World War where it is alleged Soviet, British and American leaders agreed to carve Europe into respective spheres of influence. Albania came under the Soviet communist sphere.

“You made a historic decision today to invite Albania to become a member of the most successful political and military alliance time has ever known,” said Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha told leaders of NATO member states gathered in Bucharest.

“Your noble decision here in Bucharest opens an era of secure freedom and secure future,” he added. Albania has been invited along with Croatia to join NATO.

"This is a new day, born of an old dream," Socialist Party leader Edi Rama told a press conference in Tirana.

"Albanians are returning to the [European] family, for whom they made sacrifices, were even imprisoned and killed, to enter the ranks of free countries in defence of democracy and equality in front of the law," Rama said.

He said the invitation should be seen as a call for all the Albanian political class to be responsible. The government has been accused of a cover-up of what was going on at a depot hit by a series of blasts on March 15.

26 people were killed and more than 300 people were injured following the blasts at Gerdec, just outside Tirana.

The explosions began when workers were moving stocks of old Chinese and Soviet shells stored at the base, a central collection point for the arsenal amassed by the communist-era dictatorship of Enver Hoxha.

Albania has been trying for years to dismantle the obsolete arsenal, which was one of the conditions for the country’s successful entry into NATO.

Albania’s Parliament gathered on Thursday for an extraordinary session to voice its support for the invitation.

"I believe all of us feel proud today, like the rest of the nation," noted the Speaker of the Assembly, Jozefina Topalli.

"This is one of the greatest achievements of the Albanian nation," Topalli added.

Former Albanian President, Alfred Misliu was also full of praise, saying "it is an event not only for the good of Albania, but also important for the whole region."

The news was welcomed in neighbouring Kosovo, where Deputy Prime Minister said “the membership of Albania is in the interest of the entire region.”

“It is good news in terms of Kosovo’s national security as well as for international security,” he added.