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Macedonia Eyes Albanian Port:
BalkanInsight.com

Branko Crvenkovski and Bamir Topi

18 July 2008 Tirana _ Macedonia President Branko Crvenkovski asked his Albanian counterpart on Thursday for facilitated access to Albania’s Durres port.

“The port of Durres should help the development of Macedonia’s economy,” said Crvenovski during a press conference

“The development of the eighth [European transportation] corridor remains important for the economic growth of both countries,” he added.

The eighth European transportation corridor starts at the port of Durres in Albania, passes through Macedonia and ends in the Bulgarian port of Vargas.

The project follows the route of the “Via Egnatia”, one of most important roads of the Roman Empire.

The Macedonian leader argued that the port of Durres, should not be seen only as an alternative to the port of Thessaloniki, due to the difficult relationship with Greece over the so-called ``name’’ row, but should be viewed as an opportunity for businesses on both sides of the Albanian-Macedonian border.