The Albanian Foreign Minister has confirmed for the first time that the
United States of America contacted for bringing the Syrian chemical
weapons to be destroyed in Albania.
The news that was circulating for days in the international media was confirmed for the French “Le Monde” by the Albanian Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati, during an official visit in Paris.
The article was titled “Washington urges Albania to accept the Syrian chemical arsenal”, and it says that Albania has been contacted last week.
Bushati declared that no decision has been taken so far, and they haven’t even talked about the technical discussions.
The article says that many other countries, contacted by the United States of America, have rejected this offer, including Norway which did this publicly. The French newspaper says that Albania has geographical advantages for taking the stock through sea ways, and it has some experience in the destruction of chemical weapons. In 2007 Albania was the first country in the world that completely destroyed its chemical arsenal accumulated during the regime of the communist dictator, Enver Hoxha.
But the Syrian stock mounts to 1000 tons of chemical agents and 290 tons of chemical weapons, as declared by Damask, which need to be eliminated. Byt the safety conditions in Albania are a wider challenge, according to the French newspaper, adding that time for Washington is running out.
The plan for replacing the chemical weapons should end between November 15th, and the destruction process must start on June 2014.
“Le Monde” says that regardless of Washington’s optimism, the Albania government will face a very complex equation.
Arguing that the first decision of the new government was stopping import of waste materials from other countrie,s and adding the fact that Albania is one of the poorest countries in Europe, it really needs the western support.
Quoting the representatives of the Albanian civil society, who were against the initiative, such as Albert Rakipi and Blendi Kajsiu, Le Monde closes the article with the tragedy of Gerdec.
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