Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

We are pleased to welcome back Ambassador Ahrens to Vienna and have taken note of his comprehensive report.  The overall effect is certainly a sobering one.

Our top priority for the Presence's work in Albania continues to be in the electoral area.  We recall the findings and recommendations issued by the ODIHR and COE Election Observation Missions following last October's municipal elections.  We concur with their assessment of those elections as a great step forward in Albania's political development.

We also agree that a number of improvements must be made to the electoral process in order to ensure that this spring's parliamentary elections unconditionally meet international standards of conduct.  These elections must be peaceful, free, and fair.  The path to reaching that objective is clear and achievable.  The United States supports fully the efforts of the Albanian authorities thus far to make all necessary changes and improvements in the electoral process, and we commend Ambassador Ahrens and his staff for assisting and guiding the authorities to reach that goal.

Some of the most important recommendations from international experts require tough choices and determined political will.  Improving the effectiveness of the Central Elections Commission, as you have said, is an absolute necessity.  We have doubts about the ability of the CEC as currently constituted to administer the upcoming elections.  We call on the Government of Albania, other Albanian state institutions, and all responsible political parties, to work together and take all necessary steps to ensure the CEC can do its job effectively.

A necessary second step is to fix the voters list.  While authorities last fall made the right choices in favor of full enfranchisement at the risk of possible voter duplication on the list, we cannot afford the same tradeoff this time.  The voters list must be accurate and acceptable to all participating parties, and the degree of error must be minimal.  We commend the Presence for helping address this by providing support to the national election assistance project. 

A third condition we hope to see fulfilled is the development of a more constructive opposition, an opposition that is willing to commit to participation in Albania's democratic system of governance, even in the face of losses at the ballot box. The United States supports the development of an effective, engaged Albanian opposition, and hopes that political events in Albania may soon lead to that end.

Mr. Chairman, we appreciate the fine work of the Presence in the other mandated areas as well and we look forward to reviewing these other priorities in the strategy paper.

In particular, we commend the Presence for its work on the Weapons Collection Program and encourage greater devotion of police resources to this task; for its valuable work in combating trafficking in human beings; and finally for the unique role it plays as national coordinator for the Friends of Albania.

We also continue to support the work of the field stations.  We believe they help us understand better what is happening throughout the country, and they offer regional platforms to assist the Presence in meeting its mission mandate country-wide.

Ambassador Ahrens, we offer you our support as you focus the Presence's efforts in the near-term on the critical electoral improvements.  We urge you to keep the Permanent Council closely informed of progress, and equally closely informed if the obstacles become more serious and further resources or help are needed from us.

Thank you.