Reply Telegram to Hoxha (December 18, 1958)  To Comrade Enver Hoxha, Dear Brother:  The Central Committee of the Albanian Labor Party, Tirana  I have received your letter, personally handed to me on [date] by our Ambassador, Comrade Luo Shigao. I am very grateful to you for providing us with a detailed account of several important aspects of the Third Five-Year Plan for the economic and cultural development of the People’s Republic of Albania.  The Chinese people have always taken a keen interest in the socialist construction efforts of the Albanian people and are delighted at the achievements they have made in this endeavor. In your letter, you mentioned that, in order to ensure the successful completion of your Third Five-Year Plan, you would like the Chinese side to grant a new loan. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the Government of the People’s Republic of China have agreed to extend a loan of 55 million rubles to the Government of the People’s Republic of Albania, and our Ministry of Foreign Affairs has already informed Ambassador Comrade Balliri accordingly.  Specific arrangements regarding the loan and the supply of various essential materials will be discussed by the relevant departments of our two governments.  With communist greetings!  Mao Zedong  [Date]

Printed from the telegram draft preserved in the Central Archives.  Note [1]: Hoxha was then First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Albanian Labor Party.