LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Albania: East European
built 614 days ago
Soviet-Albanian relations remained warm during the last years of Stalin's life despite the fact that Albania was an economic liability for the Soviet Union. Albania conducted all its foreign trade with Soviet European countries in 1949, 1950, and 1951 and over half its trade with the Soviet Union itself. Together with its satellites, the Soviet Union underwrote shortfalls in Albania's balance of payments with long-term grants.
Source:
Albania is well poised to continue its strong economic performance and to advance towards its goal of European integration. However, the country’s growth and competitiveness remain constrained by pervasive poverty, weak governance, and structural bottlenecks in the infrastructure sectors. To sustain high GDP growth and to improve standards of living, the agenda for reform needs to focus on the following priorities:
Source:
Since FY 1991, the U.S. has provided Albania with more than $550 million in assistance, not counting U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) food aid. The aid has served to facilitate Albania’s transition from the most isolated and repressive communist state in Europe to a modern democracy with a market-oriented economy, and to support long-term development. In 2006, the U.S. gave over $24 million to Albania under the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act program. Albania was among the first countries selected to participate in the Threshold Program under the Millennium Challenge Account, winning a grant of $13.8 million. In September 2006, Albania began implementation of the program, which targets two critical stumbling blocks to development--corruption and rule of law.
Source:
In the early 19th cent., Ali Pasha ruled Albania like a sovereign until he overreached and was assassinated. Under Turkish rule Islam became the predominant religion of Albania. However, the Albanian highlanders, never fully subjected, were able to retain their tribal organizations. Economically, the country stagnated under Ottoman rule, and numerous local revolts flared. A cultural awakening began in the 19th cent., and Albanian nationalism grew in the aftermath of the Treaty of San Stefano (1877), which Russia imposed on the Turks and which gave large parts of Albania to the Balkan Slavic nations. The European Great Powers intensified their struggle for influence in the Balkans during the years that followed.
Source:
Most European and U.S., Canadian, Australian and New Zealand nationals can enter Albania without obtaining a visa but you'll have to pay an entry and exit fee of €10. This is strictly enforced when entering the country by Air but land borders are less strict. The Albania guards are very nice and do their best to help out and will, on occasion, allow fees to be paid in dollar or will forget to charge you. It's worth making sure you've got the €10 on you as the customs officers at Mother Teresa airport don't give change.
Source:
For administrative purposes, the Turks had divided Albania into 4 provinces, or "vilayets" as they called them, of Shkodra, Kosova, Manastir, and Janina. When the European powers began to dismantle the Ottoman Empire after Russia defeated Turkey in a war that resulted in the 1878 San Stefano Treaty, they penalized Albania (because it was considered part of the Ottoman Empire) and divided it by ceding major portions of the Vilayet of Shkodra to Montenegro, the Vilayet of Kosova to Serbia, the Vilayet of Manastir to Macedonia, and the Vilayet of Janina to Greece.
Source:
MORE ABOUT
East European