in the mother tongue for the ethnic Greek minority in southern Albania. In the 1990s, Greece preferred and assisted Fatos Nano as Albanian leader due to him being Orthodox over Sali Berisha a Muslim, as Nano was seen as being friendlier to Greek interests. The government of Fatos Nano was viewed by Turkey as having a pro-Greek orientation and expressed some dissatisfaction though during that time still maintained close military relations with Albania in rebuilding its armed forces and a military base. Today, as result of very frequent high-level contacts between the governments and the parliaments, relations between the two countries are regarded as excellent. Greece is a staunch supporter of the Euro-Atlantic integration of the Republic of Albania. Since Albania's NATO entry in May 2009, Albanian-Greek relations have been developing on all fronts, and especially after the election victory of Edi Rama in 2013, with the Albanian Chief of Foreign Policy, Ralf Gjoni, describing the diplomatic relations between two countries as "excellent". Greece today is Albania's most important European Union ally and NATO partner. At the Albanian government's request, about 250 Greek military personnel are stationed in Albania to assist with the training and restructuring of the Albanian Armed Forces, as part of the NATO programme. Big projects currently in running between the two countries include the touristic development of the Ionian coastline shared between the two countries, and the Trans Adriatic Pipeline (TAP), which helped boosting the relations of the two countries even further. Albania's ties with Greece are also based on cultural and historic relations of the two peoples, including migration and national minorities. In addition, since Albania's transition to democracy, Greece has become a major financial partner of the country with Albania's economy being heavily reliant on investments from Greece. Culturally, the two nations' populations, whilst having a tense history, share numerous cultural and historic traits that have been used to boost the political relations of the neighbouring countries. There had been numerous discussions, research and attempts by Albanians and Greeks to form a confederation during the Ottoman period. In the 19th century there were plans to create a Greek-Albanian confederation, which was revived from the earlier 18th century plans. In 1907 a special protocol and memorandum of understanding was signed by Neoklis Kazazis and Ismail Qemali, the first Prime Minister of Albania. Furthermore, Arvanite author Aristides Kollias in his book "The proclamation of the Association