Albania absolutely supports Croatia's initiative to expand the Central European Free Trade Agreement (CEFTA), and believes that this is a useful organisation for strengthening cooperation in the economic and other fields, Berisha told reporters after the talks.
Croatia launched this initiative last year, but the idea drew more attention this year after the European Commission proposed establishing a regional free trade zone that would cover five western Balkan countries. The Croatian premier believes that a free trade zone could also be achieved through the expansion of CEFTA, and that there is no need for the establishment of a new network covering only the western Balkan area.
"CEFTA member-states are Croatia, Romania and Bulgaria, and as of today, Macedonia, and I hope that Albania, Serbia-Montenegro, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Moldavia will be admitted to the organisation soon," the Croatian Prime Minister told reporters in Tirana.
A summit meeting for CEFTA's enlargement could be held this spring, he added.
The Croatian premier and his host agreed that political relations between Zagreb and Tirana were very well developed and free of any outstanding issues. However, bilateral economic cooperation is lagging behind, and this topic was discussed today by the two countries' business people.
Berisha and Sanader agreed on intensifying regional cooperation, notably through CEFTA and also through the South-East European Cooperation Programme (SEECP) whose chairmanship will be taken over by Croatia this May.
On the second day of the visit on Tuesday, the Croatian and Albanian officials will discuss cooperation within the US-Adriatic Charter, which aims to facilitate the efforts of Croatia, Albania and Macedonia to join NATO. The talks will be held in the seaport of Durres and Macedonian Prime Minister Vlado Buckovski will also be attending.
Berisha said today that both Croatia and Albania "deserve an invitation to join NATO at the alliance's next expansion summit".
Asked by local reporters about Kosovo's status, Sanader reiterated Croatia's position that Serbia must be engaged in endeavors to reach the solution, and hailed the first round of status talks between Belgrade and Pristina, which was recently held in Austria.