Balkan roadshow - Albania (5/6)

The fifth leg of our roadshow took us to Tirana, Albania. Unlike our previous destinations, Albania does not have an identity crisis, but it suffers from the worst reputation in Europe. Known for its lawlessness, Albania is the European hub for people trafficking, drug smuggling, and any other form of gangsterism you can thing of. Albanians told me they were unlucky to have been colonised by the Italians. The government here is seen as weak and corrupt (last month the Culture Minister was sacked after offering an undercover journalist a job in exchange for sex), while the mafia is very strong (every second car is a Mercedes with blacked-out windows).

It's not just organised crime though; petty crime is rife as well. George Bush, when he visited last year (to thank the crooked government for allowing the extraordinary rendition flights to land here, no doubt) famously had his watch stolen as he shook hands with the adoring public.

But the place has more to offer than crime. It's a fascinating mix of influences: Balkan, Italian and Greek. The morning call to prayer at the nearby mosque compete with the desperate shrieks of the traffic police. The people ignore both.

Not that we had any time to enjoy the local culture. We were here to run our two events as part of our FCO project. To our great surprise, both events went extremely well. In fact, the conference was probably our most successful international conference ever. The topic was the relationship between government and civil society, and it was the first time such a debate had been had here. We also presented research into the challenges facing Albanian civil society, the first of its kind.

We received strong support from the British Ambassador here. He hosted a reception at his residence, then spoke glowingly about us at the conference (his speech was later shown in full on national TV), and met with us this morning to talk about the project in detail. He's very keen on what we're doing here. Sadly he will be retiring in a month - hopefully he'll tell his successor about us.

Everyone was very pleased in the end, but the true impact of what we're doing here will take months to see. This is the start of a long-term process, but at least we've started well.

Our exhausting marathon is almost at an end, but not quite. As we wait at the painfully slow passport control, ready to fly to the final leg of roadshow, we're on the verge of having completed a very successful trip. But I shouldn't tempt fate. Five down, one to go.