His Excellency Mr. Lulzim Basha, the Foreign Minister of Albania led a high-level delegation to the IDSA on December 18, 2008 for an interaction with scholars on Indo-Albanian relations and the priorities of Albanian foreign policy. Mr. Basha was in India for the first time as the Foreign Minister of Albania on the occasion of inaugurating the Albanian embassy in New Delhi. Dr. Arvind Gupta who holds the Lal Bahadur Shastri Chair at IDSA chaired the interactive session.

Welcoming H.E. Lulzim Basha, Dr. Gupta highlighted the historic importance of Albania in the context of regional pace and stability. He referred to the deep respect every Indian has for Mother Teresa. He said that though diplomatic relations between the two countries are at a nascent stage, the first-ever visit by an Albanian Foreign Minister would pave the way of a long-lasting relationship.

Mr. Basha, in his introductory remarks, gave a brief overview of Albanian foreign policy, its role in South East Europe and the future of Indo-Albanian relations. He described Albania as a small country, a recent democracy but with a long history. The primary objective of Albanian foreign policy is to integrate with NATO as well as the European Union. While Albania would gain NATO membership in April 2009, when the alliance is going to observe its 60th year of existence, the process of full membership of the EU is also underway. Given that NATO is extremely important for Albanian security, Mr. Basha stated that Albanian forces have already been posted in Afghanistan along with NATO forces. On the modernisation and reform process of the Albanian armed forces, he stated that Albania strives for light, expeditionary forces which can be posted in different global theatres of conflict like Afghanistan and Iraq. Interoperability of Albanian armed forces is therefore an important objective. However beyond interoperability, Albania also wants to collectively address global challenges like piracy, nuclear proliferation, safety of energy supply routes, cyber security and most importantly terrorism.

Expressing his sympathy and solidarity with the people of India in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks in Mumbai on November 26th, Minister Basha underlined that both India and Albania face common challenges. On the issue of the independence of Kosovo, he stated that so far 53 nations have recognised Kosovo as an independent nation. The minister said that the instance of Kosovo is a unique one and cannot be equated with other regions. Albania supports the independence of Kosovo and wants to integrate the whole Balkan region into the Euro-Atlantic architecture.

On Indo-Albanian relations, the Minister affirmed that his visit is aimed at building a strategic component to the bilateral relationship. Though Albania wants increased trade and Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) from India, it is also willing to build partnership with Indian academia, research institutions, think tanks and strategic community.

On nuclear proliferation, the Minister stated that Albania strongly supports the US position and it does not want more countries with nuclear aspirations. On Sino-Albanian relations, Mr. Basha said that this relationship has traditionally been very strong and economic relations are continuously being strengthened. Though Albania supports the One-China policy, it strongly believes in democracy, human rights and multi-party system. On Albanian membership of NATO, the Minister underscored that besides its military nature, the alliance also represents values like democracy, human rights, etc. Countries who want to be NATO members have to ensure that these values are protected. For Albania, membership of NATO is a win-win situation. About the possible threat of radicalisation of younger Muslims in the Western Balkans in general and in Albania in particular, the Minister assured that the Muslim community in the European region had so far not been influenced by any extraneous global movements and the Albanian experience had been very successful.

The Minister concluded that his delegation, which had representatives of Albanian trade and commerce, would be able to contribute to Indo-Albanian economic relations whose potential has so far remained unexploited.

Prepared by Alok Rashmi Mukhopadhyay, Associate Fellow at the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi.