STATE DEPARTMENT REGULAR BRIEFING BRIEFER: GORDON DUGUID

(during the daily press-in the photo Mr. Llambros
MR. DUGUID: Good morning, everyone. I have a statement that I'd
like to begin with.
The United States congratulates the people of the Republic of
Kosovo as they celebrate their first anniversary of the historic
declaration of independence one year ago.
Over the past year, Kosovo has moved quickly to build democratic
institutions and to implement the principles of the U.N. special envoy
and Nobel Laureate Martti Ahtisaari's plan, including strong
constitutional protections for minority rights and religious and
cultural heritage. Fifty four countries from every continent have
recognized Kosovo, including an overwhelming majority of EU, NATO and
OSCE members.

Mr. Lambros. I have another one.

Today at the World Bank, there is a special meeting about the
false information provided, by its managers, to the agency's board of directors, for $39 million dollars politically connected, quote, "coastal
cleanup," unquote, project that led to the destruction and the
destitution of a powerless Greek village close to Himare, Northern
Epirus, in Albania, in 2007, in full cooperation with Sali Berisha
government.

I'm wondering if you aware about that from the human rights point
of view.

Details concerning the Balkan region see in the video and the blogger http://smarkos.blogspot.com/