Balkan Leaders Focus on Ethnic Tolerance

Closing a two-day summit on ethnic and religious tolerance last week, the presidents of Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Macedonia and Serbia-Montenegro also pledged to speed up their efforts to join the European Union and NATO. "We are all committed to making use of dialogue as the only way to achieve full stability and overall progress in Southeast Europe, leading to a successful completion of the European integration process in the entire region," a final statement said. The leaders said dialogue was "the core of continued inter-religious cooperation and collaboration in the region." They also cited practical steps such as ensuring freedom of movement and making minorities serve as bridges of unity. Albania's President Alfred Moisiu, the host of the summit, said his tiny Balkan country's successful experience of inter-religious and interethnic coexistence could be shared with other nations. "Peace is indivisible with dialogue, the only way to solve problems we are faced with," said Moisiu.