Prime Minister Edi Rama’s remarks in the south-western city of Fier, where South Korean manufacturer of cables and wiring for the automotive industry Yura Corporation started building its first plant for manufacturing automotive technological parts, an investment worth of 13 million euros in a project that will hire up to around 1,000 employees:

While preparing to travel to this site, I learned a Korean prover that can best illustrate this entire demanding effort to achieve this precise moment to start this investment. The saying goes: “To pluck a star in the sky!”

I think the proverb means to set a destination and do whatever it takes to arrive there. Such a destination was set in 2016 and indeed it took not an easy path to move from a dream to reality, something that many often fail to understand, or impatiently refuses to figure out how impassable is the fixed gulf between the word and deeds, especially it comes to investments, complex projects, or, as it is the case, to attract to Albania an excellent automotive company.

On the other hand, one should never forget that for over 20 years, the overwhelming majority of foreign investors have emerged and the remaining ones are mainly dealing with the exploitation of our natural resources, instead of developing productive investments that create employment and sustainable development for the country, in order to take the country to another new level.

Of course, there has been a number of investments seeking to make use of the cheap labour force, yet the group of companies of another level of manufacturing, like the automotive industry, have for a long time stayed away from Albania.

Today we have entered a new stage, still a nascent one, but taking firm and sufficient steps to conclude that the manufacturing and production-based economic model, an export and a well-thought tourism-based economic model have set the cornerstone to move forward steadily and firmly.

From an era of chaotic construction boom and remittances-based economy, we have ushered in a new era and, definitely also thanks to this leading and prestigious company, I believe we set off for a new phase where other companies operating in the automotive industry will emerge, gradually developing a mosaic that has already has its initial small stones somewhere in the city of Elbasan and the town of Librazhd, where some modest yet promising subsidiaries are fully operating and now we further develop this mosaic with such an important stone like Yura Corporation following a long tough process of obstacles and a long process of negotiations.

What encourages and makes me feel hopeful, due to the fact that we open this phase with a truly prestigious company, is that Yura had plenty of choices to invest in Europe and it decided to open a subsidiary in Poland and another subsidiary in Albania.

This is very encouraging, because we know pretty well that when we talk about countries like Poland we bear in mind a league of former communist nations, but unmatchable with Albania in terms of the level of development and presence of foreign investments.

I am also very pleased that we have transformed Albania’s “1 euro program” from a program of giving away barracks, former plants, or state-owned properties still remaining derelict as a result of contracts not based on serious investment plans and serious investment companies, to a real investment program that initially generates through Yura some 600 new jobs and over 1100 new jobs in a second phase, aiming and hoping that the success of these two first phases, about which we have already agreed with the company, will lead us to a third stage, as the company projects, to hire up 4000 employees nationwide.

The Minister citied several figures, which are significant, yet inadequate for the Albania we want and we that we intend to approach at a more reasonable time given the people’s impatience and expectation than the time it would normally take in the conditions of a situation with less expectations and impatience, that means we need a lot more foreign investment. We need some significant interventions in the country’s strategic sectors, starting with tourism.

The most recent discovery by SHELL company in the area of Shpirag is a strong reason to feel somehow relieved from the burden of the future, as it will ensure an influx of significant investment and revenue.

We are in a process where we expect two major developments in the oil and gas sector and we have reasons to believe that the two will turn out to be success stories as SHELL’s discovery in Shpirag has already aroused considerable interest and now there is no big company in the world that has not expressed interest in Albania.

In the meantime, we are also helpful that together with Sokol and Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA) we will finally attract significant investments in tourism sector, which will certainly inject considerable funding and will open up significant employment opportunities, having at the same time a tremendous impact on the country’s sustainable development, based on a less massive, but more revenues from tourism, and it will improve image of tourist Albania.

I understand the AIDA Director’s concern over the indispensability for more intense efforts and efficiency in the interaction among the central and local institutions when it comes to supporting the interest expressed by foreign investors, but I believe that in this aspect too we are fast learning from the past experiences and reasonably structuring a mechanism within AIDA that creates the conditions for more speed and efficiency.

To conclude, I would like to say that I am pleased that such an investment is being developed in this area of Albania, where it will definitely give a strong signal of rebirth in view of the future we want for our children. Fier has a traditionally industrial profile and this investment by the Korean company provides the opportunity to redesign the city’s profile and open up new perspectives for other companies to invest here, seeing that Albania is fit for investment of this scale too. New jobs can be created in Albania and major exports to a colossal market can develop too.

Thank you all for your attention and thanks to the heroic Korean patience, we are here today, and wishing you to continue to show patience with us if we do not always live up to your expectations for speed, I am convinced you will find a strong ally to move the process forward in the municipality of Fier.