HC Deb 20 March 1979 vol 964 c537W
Mr. Newens

asked the Secretary for State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on the possibility of re-establishing diplomatic links with Albania.

Mr. Luard

There are two main outstanding problems in British-Albanian relations. First, the Albanians have not paid the compensation awarded to Britain by the International Court of Justice in 1949 in respect of the Corfu Channel incident. Second, there is the long-standing problem of the gold formerly belonging to the pre-war Bank of Albania which is now in the custody of the Tripartite Commission for the restitution of monetary gold. The solution to the latter problem does not depend on the British Government alone; but the Albanian Government have not so far been prepared to discuss the question of restoring diplomatic relations until it has been solved. The British Government have made it clear on a number of occasions that they would be glad to find a way round these obstacles which have prevented the restoration of diplomatic relations for so long.