Albanian Deputy Prime Minister and Economy Minister Ilir Meta resigned today amid corruption accusations.
Meta resigned after Top-Channel TV aired a videotape which shows him asking former Economy Minister Dritan Prifti to intervene over a hydropower plant concession tender.
Prosecution has launched an investigation against Albanian Deputy PM Ilir Meta based on a video which shows him rigging hydropower plant concession tender.
He will be charged with accepting bribes and abuse of office, the prosecution announced yesterday. Meta has decided to renounce his immunity.
Albanian authorities denied allegations of the country’s involvement in organ trafficking presented in a report by CoE’s Dick Marty. Albania’s Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta said that Marty’s report is full of prejudice and based on fabrications, and Interior Minister Lulzim Basha called the allegations unfounded and unsupported by facts, Albanian news agency ATA reported.
Albanian Deputy Prime Minister Ilir Meta is on his way to Central America to lobby for more recognitions of Kosovo’s unilaterally proclaimed independence.
He will be headed to Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras in hopes of convincing these countries to recognize Kosovo as an independent state, said reports.
Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta said that Albania will continue to cooperate with Serbia for the sake of the Albanians in the Preševo Valley. He said that Tirana will cooperate with Belgrade to improve on the rights and integration of Albanians in southern Serbia.
Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta said that Albania opposes the use of force against Serbs in northern Kosovo. He said that the situation in Kosovo must be normalized, but exclusively through dialogue and cooperation with the Serb community for economic and social development.
Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta said that Albania opposes the use of force against Serbs in northern Kosovo. He said that the situation in Kosovo must be normalized, but exclusively through dialogue and cooperation with the Serb community for economic and social development.
Former Albanian prime minister Pandeli Majko said that Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta’s visit to Serbia came at the wrong time. Majko said, according to the MakFax agency, that the visit served Belgrade more than it did Tirana, because nothing was achieved in the problems related to the independence of Kosovo.
Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta said that relations between Albania and Serbia are improving because they share the common goal of European integration.
Meta met with the Chief of the Southern Serbia Coordination Center Milan Marković while visiting Preševo and Bujanovac. He also met with local officials Ragmi Mustafa and Shaip Kamberi and leaders of the local self-administration and ethnic Albanian political parties.
Albanian Foreign Minister and Deputy PM Ilir Meta has arrived for a visit to Belgrade, during which he will meet with top Serbian officials. He will speak with Serbian President Boris Tadić, Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić and Deputy Prime Minister for European Integration Božidar Äelić.
UN mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, chief Lamberto Zannier has met with Albanian Foreign Minister Ilir Meta in Tirana, it has been announced. Meta was reported as saying that he was “satisfied with the participation of Kosovo Serbs in the local elections”.
Serbian and Albanian Foreign Ministers Vuk Jeremić and Ilir Meta have agreed to establish a framework as soon as possible for forging bilateral relations. Jeremić and Meta, who talked at the meeting of Visegrad Four (V4) foreign ministers in Budapest dedicated to the West Balkans, agreed that cooperation between Serbia and Albania was very significant for strengthening peace, stability and progress in the region.
