Heads up – Embassy 5 – February 2008

Albania – Room to breathe

For years Zef Mazi, Albania's new Ambassador to London, suffocated in the claustrophobic, watchful communist dictatorship of Albania.

Only as the distinctive 'voice of Albania' – the state's chief interpreter – could he briefly escape from his "cage" to see the world beyond.

Emerging from isolation, Mazi was drafted in to the foreign ministry; he helped restore diplomatic relations with Britain, and was later posted to Albania's missions in Switzerland and Vienna as chargé d'affaires.

A promotion followed as Albania's Permanent Representative to the OSCE at a time when the organisation was in transition, adding to its number countries from the former Soviet Union and Yugoslavia, many of which had their own internal problems. The Ambassador remembers the suspension of Yugoslavia from the OSCE in 1992, and the region's descent into ethnic war; efforts to resolve the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan; failed attempts to put together peacekeeping operations; and attempts to stabilise his own country in the aftermath of the political implosion of 1997.

But Mazi enjoyed the OSCE's "family" atmosphere and joined its secretariat in 1998, at a time when the situation in Kosovo was reaching crisis point. The OSCE's Kosovo Verification Mission was reporting on atrocities, which eventually led to Nato's decision to bomb Serbia. "Our mission was kicked out by Milosevic and it left within 48 hours without incident, credit to the work of Ambassador Aragona, now the Italian Ambassador in London."

Mazi's career was briefly interrupted when he was named as a presidential candidate in Albania. Unsuccessful, he returned to the OSCE, but lost out in his bid to be Secretary General of the OSCE at the final fence.

Having devoted much time at the OSCE to the Balkans, the Ambassador still takes a keen interest in Kosovo's future, whose independence is "long overdue," he says.

"Kosovo's independence can only be a source of stability. The Kosovars have suffered for a hundred years of oppression exercised by the Serb state machinery... Serbia lost the moral right to rule over the territory long ago. Kosovo's independence sanctioned the end of the dissolution of Yugoslavia; it marks the end of an epoch of slavery."

Opposing Kosovo's independence would mean "more instability, more insecurity within the borders of Europe," he continues. "This independence indeed opens options for both Kosovo and Serbia on their path to European integration."

And the sooner the integration happens, the better he says. "I simply do not see very strong reasons not to speed up this integration process for our region. This would enormously benefit the region and Europe itself. It would leave no vacuum within its borders any longer to exploit."

Albania, for its part, will play a "positive and constructive role in the Balkan scenario," he says, adding that his country will give its new neighbour "breathing space" to grow and consolidate itself, and pledges to assist it should Serbia "impose difficulties".

Now in London, enlisting Britain's support in Albania's intensive reform programme for EU integration is a priority,  as is attracting British investors to Albania and British tourists to enjoy his country's beaches, archaeological sites and great hospitality.

For the Albanian community in the UK, he plans an open-door policy  to keep their ties with the motherland strong.

It's a lot to keep him busy – so busy in fact, that he hasn't had time to seek out London's jazz clubs or read his favourite author, fellow Albanian philologist Ismail Kadare.

But you get the sense he likes all the action. Having been "caged in" for so long, Ambassador Mazi is definitely making up for lost time.