Sep 13, 2006, 16:59 GMT
Athens - The prime ministers of Greece and Albania agreed to cooperate in the energy sector Wednesday after signing a deal on power, natural gas and hydrocarbons.
Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berish was on a two-day official visit to the Greek capital in an effort to boost political and economic ties and get Greek support for integration into the European Union and NATO.
Albania signed the Stabilisation and Association Agreement with the European Union in June, the first step towards membership and is expected to be invited to become a full NATO member by 2008.
'Greece is willing to help Albania's EU and NATO prospects,' said Greek Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis.
The Albanian prime minister, in turn, expressed his country's appreciation for the Greek people's contribution to the democracy of Albania from 1990 and onwards.
Aside from signing an energy agreement, the two prime ministers agreed to further expand Greek-Albanian ties in the economic, military and energy sector and called for a train connection between the two countries.
Greece is Albania's second main trading partner after Italy.
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