I wonder if they'd let me in...

Former US President Bill Clinton Might Visit Albania

18 06 2007 Tirana_ After the “rock star” welcome granted to American president George Bush a week ago, former president Bill Clinton has accepted an invitation from Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha to visit Tirana, said a statement from the prime minister`s cabinet.

Berisha held a meeting with the former president of the United States during a visit at the United Nations in New York where he also met the Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon.


At the meeting, Clinton accepted Berisha`s invitation to visit Albania, the Prime Minister’s cabinet said. It remains unclear when Clinton might visit Albania.


The Albanian leader expressed his gratitude to the former US president for his role in pushing for the 1999 NATO intervention against the forces of former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic, in Kosovo.


“President Clinton started the NATO intervention, while Bush would be the one remembered as granting Kosovo its independence, so in a certain way a historical circle is closed by both of them,” Enkel Demi, editor of Albania’s private broadcaster TV Klan, said on Monday.


“Though Clinton has not officially confirmed it yet, it would be meaningful if he came on the day when the independence of Kosovo was announced,” he added.


Clinton thanked the Prime Minister for the warm welcome granted to Bush in Albania and gave his support for Albania’s planned integration into NATO and the European Union.



President Bush, received a very warm welcome in Albania, during his eight-hour stopover on June 10, which became the high point of his European tour, marred by protest and rioting elsewhere.



The pictures of the 43rd president of the United States, engulfed in an enthusiastic crowd in the small town of Fushë Kruja, created an echo around the world, creating a much-needed public relations boost for Tirana, which has been struggling to make an arduous transition to democracy since its Stalinist communist regime collapsed 15 years ago.

Source: http://www.birn.eu.com/en/87/15/3330/