Albania » International Relations

Albania relations with its Balkan neighbours are good. During the Kosovo crisis in 1999 around 480,000 Kosovo refugees entered Albania. Albania supported the NATO military action ad international community’s policy towards Kosovo. Albania recognized Kosovo's declaration of independence on 18 February 2008.
It restored relations with Belgrade in October in 2001 which broke off during the Kosovo crisis.

Relations between Albania and Greece became strained after the fall of the Albanian communist regime in 1991, because of allegations of mistreatment by Albanian authorities of the Greek ethnic minority in southern Albania and of the alleged Albanian minorities in northern Greece. In 1996, the two countries signed a Treaty of Peace and Friendship and discussed important issues. The relations today have improved.

During the 1990s, a lot of Albanians illegally immigrated to Italy. Italy had to put a stop to it as it would have created a humanitarian crisis. This strained the relations between the two countries. The situation however improved and the two countries participated in joint actions to stop illegal smuggling operations. To help Albania economically Italy gave it financial assistance as well.