TIRANA, Albania, Dec. 28 (UPI) -- Albania reopened a railway on Friday that links Albania with Yugoslavia, and the rest of Europe via Montenegro -- an interconnection that was closed 11 years ago, when Belgrade's actions against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo froze relations in the Balkan region.
"It was impossible to talk about communication with Montenegro two years ago, but after a meeting with the Montenegrin premier, we opened road and rail links and border check points with Montenegro," said Albanian Prime Minister Ilir Meta at the reopening ceremony in Bajze, a few miles from the Yugoslav border.
The cross-border railway between Albania and Yugoslavia via Montenegro was built during the communist era to connect the small Balkan country with the European rail net, but it was closed after the collapse of the Yugoslav Federation and stayed that way during former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's hard-line leadership in Belgrade.
"This link has strategic importance for Albania because it is the only rail connecting the country with the rest of Europe," Maqo Lakrori, the minister of transport, told United Press International.
For Belgrade, the rail's re-establishment provides a gateway to the Adriatic, according to Albanian analysts in the media.
The daily train will soon travel from Tirana to Belgrade as recommended by a World Bank feasibility study.
Two years ago, Albania supported steps taken by Montenegro to divorce itself from Serbia, but now Tirana and the new Belgrade leadership are quickly improving ties after re-establishing diplomatic relations last year. Both the Albanian and Yugoslav foreign ministers have visited each other's capitals.
Meta has also received an invitation from Serbia's Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic to visit Belgrade. Representatives from the ruling Socialist Party went to Belgrade 10 days ago and met Djindjic and Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica.
This new Tirana-Belgrade diplomatic relaxation will affect relations between Kosovo and Serbia and generally reduce tension in the Balkans as well, Albanian analysts say.
