For Immediate Release

04/02/2008

NAAC Hails Albania's NATO Membership

National Albanian American Council
1133 20th Street NW, Suite 210
Washington DC, 20036
Tel: (202) 466-6900
Fax: (202) 466-5593
naac@naac.org
www.naac.org

The National Albanian American Council hails Albania’s formal invitation to join NATO, and we send our utmost congratulations to the people and all the institutions of Albania on this truly historic day! We thank the NATO members for their vote of confidence, and for recognizing the determination and hard work by the people of Albania. This is also a tremendous leap towards Albania’s eventual membership into the European Union.

Albania’s NATO membership will bring about better security, more freedom of movement, and greater access to financial institutions. It is also a critically important step towards integrating Balkan countries into Euro-Atlantic institutions. Additionally, NAAC congratulates Croatia on its formal invitation and we regret that Macedonia was not offered an invitation at this time.  Albania’s ascension into NATO will also strengthen Kosova’s development and bring it closer to eventual NATO and the European Union membership through cross border collaboration and trade.

After almost 50 years of isolation, Albania has joined numerous international financial, military and political institutions within the past few years. Membership to multinational organization offers greater opportunities to build a modern country and it also brings greater responsibilities to continue strengthening democratic institutions and to build a strong judiciary system.

These are historic times when Albanians in Southeast Europe are integrating into Euro-Atlantic institutions, indeed becoming a part of the globalization process. We share in the celebration of Albania’s formal invitation to join NATO, and once more extend our congratulations to Albanians throughout the world!