FIRST STEP OF UNIFICATION OF "GREATER ALBANIA"

Albania to open its port to Kosovo

Albania is ready to open its northern port of Shengjin on the Adriatic Sea for the use of the landlocked Kosovo, Albania's Prime Minister Sali Berisha said on Monday. "Albania is ready to provide Kosovo with a port, which would meet its needs," a press release on the government's website quoted Berisha as saying.

Berisha made the announcement in his meeting with a group of representatives from Kosovo, who are in Albania to open talks on using the Shengjin port. The two sides agreed to study the possibility of enlarging the port which is about 90 kilometers north of capital Tirana and about 100 kilometers west of Kosovo.

Kovoso, an ethnic Albanian-dominated province of Serbia, unilaterally declared independence in February in 2008. Its independence has been vehemently opposed by Serbia. Kosovo Prime Minister Hashim Thaci sent a letter to Berisha earlier this month, asking him to allow Kosovo to use the seaport.

Albania is currently building a highway to link the central Albanian port of Durres with Kukes and beyond to Pristina, the capital city of Kosovo.