Ready to Resume Albania Relations, U.S. Says : Diplomacy: The next move is up to the Stalinist Balkan state, Washington asserts.

The Bush Administration said Tuesday that it is ready to establish diplomatic relations with Albania, Europe’s poorest and last surviving Stalinist state.

“Our door is open to the resumption of diplomatic relations, and we are ready to pursue discussions toward this end,” State Department spokeswoman Margaret Tutwiler said. But she emphasized that the next move is up to Albania.

Tutwiler was responding to a speech last week by Albanian President Ramiz Alia, who said the tiny Balkan state is willing to end decades of hostility toward both the United States and the Soviet Union. Alia’s speech to the Communist Party Central Committee appears to be part of an attempt to preserve his hard-line regime by easing Albania’s isolation from the rest of the world.

“If now the United States of America and the Soviet Union, as they say, will change indeed their stand toward Albania, we have no reason not to welcome this,” Alia said.

Tutwiler’s response was equally tepid.

“The ball is in their court,” Tutwiler said. “This is our response to their public statement.”

Asked why the United States wants diplomatic relations with the reclusive and repressive regime, she said, “I don’t believe I came out here and said we did want them. I said that the door is open; that’s all I said.”

The United States broke diplomatic relations with Albania in 1939 after Italian dictator Benito Mussolini’s forces invaded the country and it came under Italian hegemony with a puppet government. After World War II, Washington offered to re-establish relations with the newly installed Communist government. The overture was rebuffed.

Tutwiler made it clear that the United States continues to regard Albania as a repressive regime.

“Diplomatic relations do not constitute an endorsement of the policies of a given government,” she said. “Establishing diplomatic relations would create the opportunity for dialogue, through which we would be able to communicate our concerns and encourage respect for fundamental human rights in Albania.”

Albania, with a population of 3.3 million, was a Soviet satellite from 1945 until 1960. Former Albanian Communist chief Enver Hoxha broke with Moscow, accusing Nikita S. Khrushchev of betraying Josef Stalin’s legacy.

In the 51 years since the United States had an ambassador in Tirana, communications between the two countries have been infrequent and haphazard.

“From time to time, American citizens who have visited Albania have shared their views on the situation there with us,” Tutwiler said. “However, there has been no instructed communication between the two governments.”