VZCZCXRO2227
PP RUEHPOD
DE RUEHTI #0033 0150933
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 150933Z JAN 08
FM AMEMBASSY TIRANA
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 6549
INFO RUEHPS/USOFFICE PRISTINA PRIORITY 3728
RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE 4467
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB 3247
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE 3035
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO 0706
RUEHPOD/AMEMBASSY PODGORICA 0059
RUEHLJ/AMEMBASSY LJUBLJANA 0786
RUEHHE/AMEMBASSY HELSINKI 0067
RUEHNO/USMISSION USNATO 3509
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEHVEN/USMISSION USOSCE 2378

UNCLAS TIRANA 000033 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
SENSITIVE 
 
DEPT FOR EUR/SCE 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: PREL AL
SUBJECT:  PRESIDENT TOPI TO EMPHASIZE TOLERANCE IN JANUARY 25-27 
VISIT TO KOSOVO 
 
 
¶1.  (SBU)  Deputy Foreign Minister Edith Harxhi told us on Janury 11 
of upcoming plans for President Topi to visit Kosovo January 25-27. 
Harxhi said he would travel with a delegation of some 90 people. 
This trip has now been released in the press, which reported the 
entourage could reach 100, to include business and cultural leaders 
and politicians. 
 
¶2.  (SBU)  Harxhi, who said she was planning and advancing the 
visit, suggested it would highlight tolerance.  She said Topi would 
visit Gnjilane, which Harxhi described as "a center of 
multi-ethnicity," and deliver a message of support for respect and 
tolerance.  She hopes to arrange for him to tour what she described 
as a well-known shopping bazaar.  According to Harxhi, Serbians from 
Southern Serbia also come to the bazaar and sell local items, such 
as a particular cheese.  She also expects Topi to visit a Catholic 
(vice Orthodox) church in a village near Gnjilane, where Mother 
Teresa was baptized.  (She said several times that the goal is for 
Topi's visit to be different, not to repeat exactly what was done by 
PM Berisha or other Albanian leaders in previous trips.) 
 
¶3.  (SBU)  Harxhi also said President Topi would visit Camp 
Bondsteel to thank the soldiers for their support to Kosovo and the 
region.  She said this had already been approved by USOP and by the 
Commander at Bondsteel. 
 
¶4. (SBU)  President Topi has requested a meeting with Ambassador 
Withers prior to the January 25 trip. 
 
CRISTINA