One Week in Albania

I am now on my way back to Chisinau after one week in Albania. (Am blogging from the Budapest Airport. There is a 30 minute mismatch between the Tirana flight and the Chisinau flight so I am now waiting for the evening flight six hours later. Guess few travels between these countries – most probably head inwards the EU.) It has been a long but interesting week, during which we have explored the possibility of financing a project there. (It is less vague than it sounds.) I am trying to sort among my impressions of the country, but I am not really sure where to start. Perhaps from the beginning.

When crossing the boarder on our way from Skopje last week, I was struck by the difference between Albania and Macedonia. During our drive through the beautiful mountains areas that exist in both countries, the environment and the villages along the road changed. The infrastructure was less maintained and in more need of reparation, and the villages seemed much poorer. At the same time, I could see the signs of the country’s large migration flows and of the remittances coming in, with abandoned agricultural areas and enormous new houses under construction here and there, sticking out amongst the small traditional houses in the villages. The national incomes of the two countries confirm this divide. Whereas Macedonia’s per capita GDP (PPP) is US$ 8,400 per year, that of Albania is only US$ 5,800 (CIA World Factbook, 2007 estimates).

This can also be compared with Moldova’s annual per capita income of US$ 2,300 – a difference that was evident when I arrived in Tirana. Buildings and parks are better maintained, streets renovated, and there is just much more of everything that a city has to offer than we have in Chisinau. Tirana in itself is difficult to describe. On the surface, it does not look like any place I have been to before, and despite some Italian remains from Mussolini, it for sure does not look very European. As all of you probably know, I want to see structures, logics and patterns in just about everything, but I have to admit that I got puzzled by Tirana. But it might be because I have not been so much in Turkey or in the other non-EU countries around the Mediterranean. Anyway, the city life seemed more influenced by southern Europe, with sidewalk cafes and restaurants, good food and locally produced wine, and excellent coffee. Actually, both Macedonia and Albania have adopted the Italian coffee, and even when in meetings at Government authorities in Skopje, they offered double espressos and macchiatos. (Yes, I am not too much for excessive luxury, but I really do think these small things add to quality of life!) And just like in Skopje, the EU flag could be seen everywhere in government buildings –Albania hopes for candidacy status around next year.

Wednesday, my team leader and I, along with two others from my team went out in the field to talk to farmers. It is always equally interesting to hear their views on the business climate, access to markets, and investment opportunities. It is not easy for many of them to make a living and for their businesses to grow, but some of them have managed to make it happen. And just like in Moldova, several of the entrepreneurs that we met were return migrants who had decided to return to Albania and create a future for themselves there. It is not easy, and I am impressed with those who decide to take the step. I hope that I will be able to contribute with something that makes this a little easier, but that is perhaps too ambitious to even think. Well, I’ll hold on to that thought a bit longer anyway…

I will hopefully go back to Albania many more times, and these impressions that I have now will probably change equally many times. And I am looking forward to it!

On the way from one meeting to another in central Tirana

Six Days in Macedonia

After almost one week in Macedonia (or Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, F.Y.R.M.), I am now in Tirana, Albania, since yesterday. One of my colleagues asked me today what my impression of Macedonia was after these days, and if I recognize things from Moldova. I don’t. Not really anyway. Certain things that I have seen especially in my work are of course similar, like limited available resources and the lack of capacity in certain institutions. Yet from the little that I saw of the country, to me Macedonia seems to be quite typical EU and seem to fit in well in the EU template in terms of Brussels’ ideas of what is “European”. Comparing it to Moldova makes me realize how far to the East Moldova really is, but it also makes me realize how far to the East Sweden really is. While these typical core European attributes that I saw in Macedonia also exists in Sweden, it is only because we up north for the past 30 years have been eager to adapt what we call continental habits, and not because they are traditionally part of the Swedish culture. Instead, I recognize much more in the Moldovan society from how I grew up and how things were when the Swedish model was formed. Which is probably one of the reasons why I have felt so at home in Moldova. 

Anyway, I really liked Macedonia and I enjoyed working with both my colleagues on the team and my counterparts in the Ministries and Government institutions. As almost everyone speaks English, communication has been very easy, which always facilitates work and makes things more relaxed. The project that I work with focuses on supporting Macedonia to prepare its institutions for the EU’s pre-accession financing and for EU trade, in this case for the agricultural sector. And it is difficult not to be an EU enthusiast when seeing how much effort that goes in to these preparations and how important this membership is. Macedonia is an EU candidate country and in every government office, there is an EU flag next to the Macedonian. And it is not so difficult to understand why, especially not for a small country recently struck by conflict like Macedonia. In the nearest future, the EU of course represents a lot of financial support and additional budget resources, as well as new access to markets and opportunities for the country’s economy. And probably a sense of belonging instead of polarization.

On our way to Albania yesterday, we stopped for lunch at beautiful Lake Ohrid. So not only work this week.

Lake Ohrid

The Nobel Prize

 

It doesn’t happen too often, but I have actually read this year’s Nobel Prize laureate in Literature, Jean-Marie Le Clézio. A set of short stories called “Mondo et autres histories” that my cara Carro recommended to me when we were book shopping at Gibert & Joseph in Paris a few years ago. (For those of you who know Carro, I don’t even have to add that the book was good.)

 

                      

Despite the main ceremony being in Stockholm, the closest I have gotten to the Nobel Prize is to sing for different laureates at various events. For me, the most memorable occasion was without doubt when I together with a smaller ensemble from my Swedish choir did a traditional Saint Lucia performance for economists Clive Granger and Robert Engle (2003), and their families photographed us non-stop throughout the entire performance. The idea that my intellectual idols have photos of me among their memories from their Stockholm visit is of course indescribably cool for me (though I am fully aware how little this impresses anyone else!) In addition, Granger shed a few tears during one of the songs, which I thought was very touching.

Other than that, watching the cermony on TV is probably the closest I will ever get to the Nobel Prize, though I think it would be fun to go to the dinner just once. But unless I marry Prince Carl Philip, I do not really see how that will ever happen. In the meantime, I watch the immensely bizarre movie The Prize now and then. The movie, in which Paul Newman goes to Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize in literature, is a tribute to post-war Stockholm and describes the city and its people as very modern and progressive for early 1960s, though Paul Newman’s semi-alcoholic character winning the Nobel Prize in literature is just a little bit too much for the Swedish academy. When he asks the first Swedish girl he meets if she wants to marry him, she simply answers: Well, we have a saying here in Sweden: Why settle for one dish when you can have smorgasbord? Instead of sipping campaign at receptions, giving interviews, and holding lectures at the University, Paul Newman quickly gets drawn in to a cold war drama between the East and the West. Needless to say, he gets the Swedish girl at the end, though the story does not tell if she gives up her ideas on marriage…

Due to the usual problems with internet in many transition countries, I could not post the screen here directly, but click on this link if you want to see Paul Newman charm a Swedish (female) diplomat. (Sorry, couldn’t find a more interesting clip.)