After Norway withdraw last week, the United States officials are thinking about looking for other countries who can accept the Syrian chemical weapons. On this list is Albania too.
Some foreign media outlets have also mentioned this, but National Journal has dedicated a full article to this topic. The article quotes that the sources have mentioned some countries, among which is Belgium, which has not excluded the acceptance of these weapons. This would mean using special machineries secured by the United States for metling 1000 tons of nerve agent sarin and mustard gas.
Every country that will accept taking this political and environmental burden, everything will depend on the money that will be invested and the will to participate, declared in an interview Paul Walker from the International Green Cross. Washington asked its allies in Western Europe to take in consideration the acceptance of the Syrian illegal weapons.
Based on the speculations made by him in the past week with the United States government officials, Walker says that the best possible options so far seem Albania, Belgium and France. In an interview for Global Security Newswire and other experts, other countries that may add to the list are Sweden and Denmark, but they add that the main candidates are Albania and Belgium.
The United States officials were surprised by Norway’s decision to withdraw. But Olso has quoted the time limits and international rules as the main obstacle from being involved. The United States State Department has given no official comment on this issue. In 2007, Albania became the first country in the world that eliminated all chemical weapons openly, by eliminating more than 16 tons of mustard gas and other toxic agents.
Commenting the last report of the World Bank for the business climate, in which Albania’s level had dropped, the Minister of Economy, Arben Ahmetaj, declared that the worst indicator is that of the government’s ability to respect agreements.
The proof for this, according to Ahmetaj, is the the debt that the government has accumulated towards companies that have completed work and have not been paid.
“Based on the data collected until May 2013, the Doing Business team has classifed Albania in the 90th spot, from 189 countries in total. The trend of the second mandate of the former government shows that Albania has deteriorated each year in the business facility. By not paying the contractual obligations, the previous government not only has left a 600 million USD hidden debt to the citizens, but as this report shows, they have scared away potential investors through corruptive practices and irresponsibility. Our government has taken the mandate for addressing all these problems and the critical situation caused by the former government”, Ahmetaj declared.
Several international media outlets have reported that Albania is among the few countries that are most likely to take the Syrian Chemical weapons for the process of destroying them, but that has not been confirmed by Albanian or American governments. However, the first obstacle for this procedure is the Albanian Waste Law itself.
The new government amended it on October of this year, and article 48 has completely forbidden the import of dangerous materials in the Albanian territory.
An environment specialist, Zamir Dedej, says that the chemical weapons are dangerous wastes, without any doubt.
“Being in a treaty as that of NATO there could be legal spaces which treat these problems, but the Albanian law and the amends made on October 2013, strictly forbid the import of dangerous materials and that’s what are these weapons coming from Syria”, Dedej declared.
If Albania is in the list of countries chosen by the United States, the question remains if our country has the capacities to do this, considering the fact that international organizations have frequently made remarks about Albania’s ability to preserve military waste.
“Certainly that a country with the military abilities of the United States, they have all the necessary practices. But the problem here, especially from the civil society, raises huge questions about the ability to control and monitor all these processes. Because we don’t have the human and technological capacities to guard these weapons as we should”, Dedej declared.
The foreign media declared that Norway, Belgium and Albania are the main candidate countries, but Norway has rejected it by quoting some time limitations and international rules, as the obstacle for their involvement. The United States State Department has released no official comment over this issue.
It is not the first time that our country destroys chemical weapons. In 2007, Albania was the first country in the world that eliminated all its chemical weapons, and they were more than 16 tons of mustard gas and other toxic agents.
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