Albania PM to visit Serbia after 68 years

TIRANA (Albania): Albania's foreign minister says Prime Minister Edi Rama will visit Belgrade later this month in the first visit to Serbia by an Albanian premier in 68 years.

Ditmir Bushati said Friday that the situation of the ethnic Albanian minority in the southern Serbian province of Presevo and the recognition of Kosovo's independence would be part of the talks in the Oct 22 visit.

Belgrade has not recognized the 2008 independence of Kosovo, formerly a province of Serbia but with an ethnic Albanian majority population.

The last time an Albanian head of state visited Belgrade was in 1946, when late communist dictator Enver Hoxha met with Yugoslavia's then-leader, Josip Broz Tito, after World War II. The former allies' relations soured in 1949.

Now both countries aim to join the European Union.
AP
[timesofindia.indiatimes.com]
3/10/14
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