I. INTRODUCTION

This matter is before the court on the petitioners’ motion for a default judgment and to confirm an arbitral award rendered against the respondent, the Republic of Albania, Ministry of Public Works, Transport and Telecommunications ("Albania"), pursuant to the Convention on the Recognition and Enforcement of Foreign Arbitral Awards of June 10, 1958 ("the New York Convention"), 21 U.S.T. 2517, T.I.A.S. No. 6997. The petitioners, who entered into a contract with Albania to modernize a portion of that nation’s rail network, commenced an arbitration proceeding against Albania in the International Chamber of Commerce, International Court of Arbitration ("the ICA"), pursuant to an arbitration clause in the underlying agreement. At the conclusion of those proceedings, an ICA arbitral tribunal concluded that Albania had failed to fulfill its obligations under the contract and issued an arbitral award in excess of $20 million in favor of the petitioners. The petitioners commenced this proceeding to enforce the arbitral award against Albania, which has declined to respond to the petition or otherwise participate in these proceedings. Because the petitioners have established to the court’s satisfaction their entitlement to a default judgment and confirmation of the arbitral award, the court grants the petitioners’ request for a default judgment and confirms the arbitral award in the amount of $20,664,933.30. The petitioners, however, have not explained to the court’s satisfaction the basis of the pre-judgment interest award requested in the motion; accordingly, the court denies without prejudice the petitioners’ request for prejudgment interest.