Korca's population is 60,000 inhabitants. Korca is now an important agricultural and industrial centre. The first brewery in Albania was established here and is still in operation. The "Petro Papi" instrument work produces machine tools and measuring instruments of high quality. The 8th of March carpet enterprise is the largest factory of its kind in the country, which produces carpets and rugs with a workforce composed mainly of women and girls. The knitwear combine, the agricultural machinery work, the woodworking enterprise, the shoe and footwear factory), the artistic products enterprise are some of the main enterprises in this town.

Albania initiated discussions with many private Western firms concerning the acquisition of advanced technology and purchase of modern industrial plants. It also asked for technical assistance in locating and exploiting oil deposits off its coast. But the problems for Albania in pursuing these economic aims were considerable. The main problem was Albania's critical shortage of foreign currency, a factor that caused Albania to resort to barter to pay for imported goods. An even greater problem until the 1990s was the provision in the 1976 Albanian constitution prohibiting the government from accepting foreign aid. Geopolitical, the Albanian movement has a long and well-tested experience in relying on the historic or periodic enemies of the states whose territories it had claims on. In the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twentieth century, one such Balkan enemy was Austria-Hungary, to be followed - in the period between the two world wars - by Italy. During the Second World War, to be courted were Mussolini's Italy and Hitler's Third Reich. After 1948, Albanian demands were supported by the USSR and China, while after the end of the Cold War, from 1990, they turned for aid to the only remaining military alliance - NATO.

Since the fall of communism, the Autocephalous Orthodox Church of Albania, like its sister Churches throughout Eastern and Central Europe, has struggled to repair the damage wreaked by years of state-imposed atheism. "Syndesmos" has tried to help this process by organizing leadership training courses for youth workers, the second of which took place in the Albanian city of Korca September 2-9, 1996 also old churches near Korca and the village of Veskopoje which, with its many churches and monasteries, has remained a stronghold of Orthodox Christianity in the southeastern part of the country.