Albanian diplomacy engages in an effort to boost the country's development

Albanian diplomacy engages in an effort to boost the country's development
Relations between official authorities in Tirana with foreign businesses intensify. Albania increases its participation in economic forums and makes constant efforts to attract more foreign investors in its territory

 Eglantina Nasi

More economic forums and more joint chambers of commerce between Albania and other countries. This is what Tirana is recently offering, focusing more on what is called “economic diplomacy”. Perceived as one of the ways that Albania is using to attract foreign investments, it is being applied in order to intensify contacts with foreign businesses and hold joint meetings with the aim of signing deals or opening up their chambers of commerce in our country. All of this at a time when the Balkan countries are involved in a competitive race to attract foreign investments.

The last forum was held in Tirana on 10 April 2017 with the Albania-Hungary Economic Forum, which saw the participation of 20 Hungarian companies and which was finalized with the signing of 5 memorandums for economic cooperation between the two countries and exchange of experiences between respective companies. Another one was the 3rd Francophone Economic Forum held in Tirana on 23 March of this year as part of the Francophone Week, which encouraged the strengthening of the French companies that operate in our country. Meanwhile, the Franco-Albanian Chamber of  Commerce and Industry opened in 2013. This chamber counts 38 members, who represent more than 4 thousand employees in the country. Meanwhile, another important event of the economic diplomacy was the one that was held on 12 April with the Austrian companies that operate in Albania, initiated by Advantage Austria Albania. This activity also presented the results of a survey on their perception of doing business in Albania. Meanwhile, three years ago, on 20 May 2014, the Albanian-Austria Economic Forum was held with the participation of around 70 Austrian companies, for which Albania seems to be an interesting market. Meanwhile, in April this year, German companies which are represented in our country through DIHA (German Association of Industry and Trade in Albania), published the results of its latest survey on the advantages of doing business in Albania, which concluded that Albanian workers are still unqualified. Meanwhile, a year ago (June 2016), Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA) and the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry signed a special deal to boost German investments in our country and offer adequate support for these kind of investors. Then, at the end of the year (9 December 2016) there was the Poland-Albania Economic Forum which saw the participation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. Rama said that Albania must use all of its economic potentials to attract Polish investments.

EVENTS

This year alone, the country hosted the Albania-Hungary Economic Forum; the 3rd Francophone Economic Forum; Albania-Austria Economic Forum, etc.

PRESENCE

More foreign chambers of commerce in Albania

Albania is seeing the opening of more and more foreign chambers of commerce and industry in the country. Thus, besides the “traditional” chambers of commerce such as the American Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Italian Chambers of Commerce, British Chamber of Commerce, Greek-Albanian Chamber of Commerce and Turkish-Albanian Chamber of Commerce, several other chambers have recently opened with the aim of boosting business relations between our country and other countries of the region or beyond. Let us recall that a year ago, Serbia-Albania Chamber of Commerce was created and this was considered as an achievement for regional cooperation in the framework of the Berlin Process.

MAP OF EVENTS

Economic forums for Albania and abroad

The country hasn’t only hosted events inside of its territory. Recently, there have also been economic forums in other countries of the world. Let us recall the economic forum that was held in Istanbul on 27-28 January of this year, with the participation of minister Milva Ekonomi, who invited Turkish companies to invest in Albania. The map of events also spread in the Far East with the Singapore-Albania Forum of Investments and Commerce, which saw the participation of Prime Minister Edi Rama. During this forum, Rama talked about the numerous possibilities that Albania is offering for investors from Singapore. Last October, the Albanian-German Economic Forum was hosted in Hamburg, mainly focusing on the process of Albania’s European integration. Another forum was the Investment Forum in Abu Dhabi on 14 April 2015, where the Albanian PM presented our country as part of a new economic model.

COOPERATION

Ice is broken,  Serbia is more present in the economy

 What happened last year in Nis with the holding of the Albanian-Serb Economic Forum with the participation of 300 Serb businesses and 30 representatives of Albanian businesses, was considered as the ice that was broken. Present in this event was Prime Minister Edi Rama himself, who called for the barriers that have existed in the past between the two countries, to be removed. According to him, Serbia and Albania must boost economic cooperation in many dimensions. Such act was also praised by international representatives considering it as a new approach of the countries of the region, starting with the economy. “There must be a joint action plan to facilitate commercial and economic cooperation”, Rama declared at that time. Figures indicate that today, there are around 100 Serb companies operating in Albania. They are modest companies, but they operate in the domain of construction, industry, tourism and service.

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