“The base is the first footprint of NATO in the Western Balkans as it will transform Kucova into the first NATO air base for the region,” Defence Minister Olta Xhacka told Reuters….NATO will spend over 50 million euros ($58 million) on the first stage of work to turn Kucova into a support base for supplies, logistics, training and drills….Albania feels it has earned such a transformation at the base for helping maintain stability in the Balkans and contributing to NATO peacekeeping missions around the world. “The region as a whole has entered into an irreversible Euro-Atlantic integration process,” Xhacka added.” Reuters, 10/12/18
8/4/2018, “NATO to build air base in Albania,“ EuropeanWesternBalkans.com, Tirana, Albania
“NATO plans to build its first air base in the Western Balkans, wrote Prime Minister of Albania Edi Rama on Facebook.
“In the partnership with Albanian government, NATO will invest more than 50 million euros [$58 million], and that is only for the first phase of the Kuçovë air base modernisation”, wrote Rama.
He added that Kuçovë will also serve as the national base for Albania’s air forces, and assessed that this strategic investment represents a new standard for Albania’s military.
“This huge investment without a doubt creates new opportunities for economic and social development of the whole region, through the construction of this new air base using the newest technologies”, said Rama.
He emphasised that direct talks with the US aiming to further modernise Albania’s air force capacities are currently in progress.
Rama expects that mutual decisions reached in this talks will soon find themselves before US Congress, reports MIA.” [MIA is Macedonian Information Agency]
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Added: Most Albanians are Sunni Muslim
“Muslims are said to make up 70% of the population in Albania, and most of them are not Bektashi, who are Shia, but Sunni.”…1/21/2008, “Is there a European Islam?” BBC, Mark Mardell’s Euroblog
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