Albania is a emerging democracy in Southeastern Europe.Albania is bordered by Macedonia, Greece, Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro and the capital and largest city is Tirana which has 270,000 people. Albania, was historically one of the more isloated of Eastern Europe states. Albania gained independence on June 20,1912 from the Ottoman Empire which was by then crumbling.

Albania orginally was founded as a constitutional monarchy. Eventually it became a republic in 1928 only to be transformed into a the classic textbook example of a xenophobic communist state during the Cold War. Albania, became one of the Warsaw Pact members in 1945, however it left the Pact and formed relations with Maoist China, the only European state to do so.Also in 1967, Albania proclaimed itself the world's first officially atheist state. Enva Hoxha, the countries' leader during the 70s and 80s forbade travel to anywhere outside Albania and indeed built huge garrisons along the Greek and then Yugoslav borders. The remnants of these garrisons and bunkers can be found today are a popular tourist attraction.

In 1991, with the end of the Cold War, Albania restored it's republic and it has had three successive independent presidents since then. Albania, a country which recently broke the high marker on the human development index continues to experience a bright future. It joined NATO, the former adversary to the Warsaw Pact member states and is currently a candidate to the European Union.

However, in 1997, the pyramid schemes that Albania invested in during the communist era finally collapsed and there were huge riots throughout the country as millions lost their savings.

Today, however, Albania invests in more sustainable development projects and is pursuing a stable and moderate privitization campaign.