Our Man in Tirana

The Washington Post has a lengthy article on the phenomenon of sworn virgins . Elvira Dones , an Albanian born author and journalist has recently made a film on this theme. Also looking at women in Albanian society, Nicole Itano reports for Women's eNews on the experience of Roma women . MSNBC carries an FT report on the problems facing small businesses in Albania trying to cope with hours-long power cuts every day. The report quotes the Prime Minister's claims that Albania has reached a 'turning point' and that within four years the country will be exporting electricity. The Economist has a piece on President Topi . The author believes that the President will support measures to limit the term of office for the Chief Prosecutor, thus dealing with the Sollaku issue. In contrast to the Prime Minister's optimism, the Economist reports that 'plans for private investors to build new power plants are way behind schedule.' Forbes carries an AP story on US attemp...

Following on from an earlier story concerning Albanian immigrants in Greece, the Financial Times has the story of one of those immigrants, Gazmend Kapllani, a journalist and writer. BIRN reports on the 13 million EUR fine imposed on the Top Media group by the tax authorities who claim that the group has been under-reporting its income for the last 5 years. Others, noting that Top Media has been highly critical of the current government, claim that the authorities are trying to silence any opposition. China, seeking to extend its influence through the judicious application of soft power , has been giving gifts to Albania. A couple of weeks ago it was 1,400 computers for use in schools; this week it was a load of balls . Good news for the aspiring middle classes and frustrated handymen out there: German DIY/home improvement chain Praktiker plans to open a store in Tirana in the summer of 2008. Finally, the funniest story of recent days concerns an offer by the Iranians to help Alba...

Chatting with a taxi driver while back in Belfast a few months ago, he was intrigued when I told him that I was living in Albania. Did I think it was worth investing in property there, he enquired. Not unless you're prepared to risk losing your money, I replied. By the end of the journey he was considering Bulgaria instead. Despite the risks, some people are starting to invest in Albanian property. The Daily Telegraph reports on Ian Warburton who recently spent 29,000 GBP (around 40,000 EUR) on a one-bedroom apartment in a new development in Tirana. "Given its location, I don't see how it can fail to work," he said. The development is called Terra Nova and the apartments are being actively marketed as an investment opportunity by Barrasford and Bird , a UK property company. Here is their sales pitch for Albania: Albania shares the same stunning coastline as Croatia and Montenegro. However, Albania has better weather and prices are about a quarter of those compa...

Since the arrival of an Apple store the good people of Tirana have an opportunity to buy over-priced, over-hyped electronic toys. I assume it is the real thing, even though no Apple website I have checked makes any mention of Apple in Albania.

You can find the press release regarding the UNDP report on 'extra-legality' in the Albanian economy here . The report is being produced by the Institute for Liberty and Democracy .

Another article from the Economist .

I've never been in the sea at Durres, though there are plenty of brave people who have. Most Western embassies here strongly advise against swimming in the waters off any of the major towns since they are all severely polluted. Now a study from the Ministry of Health has reached the same conclusions, singling out Durres, Vlora and Kavaja. This is hardly surprising in the case of Durres since the entire beach front has been blighted by uncontrolled development, and you don't have to be a genius to work out where all the sewage from those new apartments, hotels and restaurants is going. Quite apart from the dangers to public health for the local population, this level of pollution means that Albania will never develop into a major tourist destination in the way the government here seems to assume it will. Without clean beaches and clean water Albania won't have any tourist industry worth speaking of. Whether anything will be done about the problem is unclear. There is much l...