Albania, officially the Republic of Albania is a country in South Eastern Europe. Albania is bordered by Greece to the south-east, Montenegro to the north, Kosovo to the northeast, and the Republic of Macedonia to the east. It has a coast on the Adriatic Sea to the west, and on the Ionian Sea to the southwest. It is less than 100 km (60 miles) from Italy, across the Strait of Otranto.
The country is a member of the United Nations, South East Europe Cooperation Process, Organization for Co-operation and Security in Europe (OSCE), Council of Europe (COE), and World Trade Organization.
It is also a potential candidate for membership in the European Union and received a NATO membership invitation on 3 April 2008.
Albania is a parliamentary democracy that is transforming its economy into a market-oriented system. The Albanian capital, Tirana, is home to 350,000 of the country's 3.6 million population. As a result of the opening of the country in the post-communist era, Albania is now undergoing a development boom as its telecommunications, transport and utilities infrastructure is being revamped. Albania has a total area of 28,750 square kilometers. Its coastline is 362 kilometers long and stretches on the Adriatic Sea and the Ionian Sea. The lowlands of the west face the Adriatic Sea. The 70% of the country that is mountainous is rugged and often inaccessible. The highest mountain is Korab situated in the district of Dibra, reaching up to 2,753 meters (9,032 ft). The country has a continental climate at its high altitude regions with cold winters and hot summers. Besides the capital city of Tirana, which has 800,000 inhabitants, the principal cities are Durrės, Elbasan, Shkodėr, Gjirokaster, Vlorė, Korce and Kukes. In Albanian grammar, a word can have indefinite and definite forms, and this also applies to city names: both Tirane and Tirana, Shkodėr and Shkodra are used. |
