STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR BRIEFING BRIEFER: GORDON DUGUID, DEPUTY DEPARTMENT

WASHINGTON, D.C. TIME: 11:09 A.M. EST DATE: FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6, 2009

Question: Gordon, could you give us an idea of what the agenda is for the secretary and the Albanian leader? Are they going to talk about that purge of former communist people in their government?

MR. DUGUID: Well, they're going to talk about bilateral issues. Issues of human rights will come up, whether it's the lustration law or not. I don't know if that will be raised in particular. I think the main thrust of the conversation will be about preparations for ascension into NATO membership. As you know, Albania is one of the two countries that's been granted NATO membership. The United States has agreed to that. We have signed our portion of the
agreement. Other allies have as well. They'll be talking NATO issues
for the most part, as well as other bilateral issues.

Question: Can I just ask one more on Albania and the meeting today?

MR. DUGUID: Yes.

Question: Will there be any discussion about potential, Albania potentially accepting more detainees from Guantanamo?

MR. DUGUID: Well, the discussions on Guantanamo detainees are something that we're doing with individual nations and with the EU as a group. I don't have any information for you on that particular topic in this meeting.