The round of conversations between the Prime Minister and the citizens took place in Vlora on Friday:

-Few days ago, you announced that work to rehabilitate Vlora’s Flag Square will kick off soon. I would like to know whether the square’s historic values will be preserved under this requalification project.

PM Edi Rama: I know that the project has spurred debates, which, I believe, are mainly the result of the lack of complete information or result of complete misreading of the project design as the main goal of the project on requalification of the Square Flag is not just to preserve, but to further enrich and strengthen the square’s historic values and elements. Of course, those pre-war buildings are part of the cultural and historic heritage, it is the part that houses the archaeological area, the memorial tomb of Ismail Qemali, and the Independence Memorial, it is also the part featuring the Martyrs Cemetery, which are slightly diverted from participation in that complex under the existing layout. This is where the installation of four cannons of the four vilayets is also located.

The new project, not only does it preserve their values, but it also reveals and highlights them more beautifully, adding also other elements, including the red stone or marble carpet, as it is a matter of the materials the architects will choose for the temple, which will also serve as a shelter for various activities and events, as well as an area – just like it is the case with many historic centres across Europe – to host a market for the locally grown produce on the weekends.

Of course, the square will also be enriched with another element, which has been the most serious problem to this historic square, the monstrous unfinished frame structure, about which we have launched an expropriation procedure to demolish a part of it and transform it into a three-storey public centre that will host various activities. The project will offer spaces for all ages through a network core of digital innovation we have already started to build, first in Tirana, and Korça soon, with young people being offered the opportunity to attend intensive programs on digital practices to learn computer coding and programming and ways to gain access to the online labour market, which is the future for young people in terms of employment without having to leave the city, town of village where the live.  It would suffice for them to have internet access and they can start self-employment jobs to provide services to third parties in a market that currently offers 2.4 million jobs or vacancies for skilled young people around the globe. And not only that, but also to gain access to apps recreating business and so on.

In addition to this nucleus, this centre will also house other spaces for culture, art, the elderly, and public services.

Just as importantly, the way that the building will be redesigned will create opportunities to create more interior spaces and connections to other points from the square and not just that alley of the historic square.

I remember that when we embarked on construction of the Waterfront Promenade, or the Lungomare, the project met with debates, objections and controversies, but the Waterfront Promenade today is today a space on which everybody fully agrees. This will be also the case with the Flag’s Square. I am convinced that once the project completes, even the foreign visitors who haven’t the slightest idea what about that square is and what’s the history of this square is, they will instantly realize it is actually a space having to do with this city’s history and they will feel part of a square like the Flag’s Square.

–Answering to a question made by a Vlora University student whether the government has developed a strategy that would ensure the students employment once they graduate, taking notice of the fact that Vlora is one of the region’s hardest hit by the migration phenomenon, Prime Minister Rama said:

This is a very important and complex issue. However, some things should be said without fearing your could be saying something wrong. We have gone through a dramatic historic phase regarding future of the youth by completely dismantling the country’s education system and paving a blind path towards mass university education leading either to issuance of countless and university-level diploma of no value for the labour market, or to fake diplomas without attending any university lecture. We inherit from that period a large number of young people, who own a diploma, but having no access as the labour market is not demanding such a huge number of lawyers, economists. However the labour market is increasingly demanding skilled information technology specialists, but the supply is very weak.

Despite all this, today we have a better, but not a very good situation in the education system. In this aspect, just it is the case with many other areas, we are still halfway. We are still in a process that needs to be taken forward; we are engaged in a battle that we should win. Progress has been made and we have gained ground, but we have yet to put entire system under control, as the trend of universities with degree programs that grant no access to the labour market is still there, automatically leading to growth of unemployment among young people. Government has done its job. It has created a preferential channel for the best performing students with a grade point average nine and ten. Right after the students protest and the pact with the university students, we have regularly launched calls for applications for the students’ employment, bearing in mind the need for them to accumulate work experience and the opportunity that if they wish to continue be part of the public administration they accumulate experience for a final job position.

This has to do with two factors.

First factor is education.

The second factor is the economy, creation of new jobs and high-paying jobs. In order for us to move to another level in terms of the salaries, we had to go through the economy’s next structuring phase. This could be done through investments and I believe that Vlora, with two new investment projects due to kick off soon, although we experienced an exhausting process with the first project, namely the Vlora international airport project, which was suspended and delayed due to the pandemic  and was then reopened and we hope an winner will be announced, and the second project on the new tourist port, construction of which will commence soon, along with the cargo and the passenger seaport, which will be relocated to the fishing port and will bring an important economic impact and a perspective for new jobs.

It is very different from what is said, because many claim they are scrambling to provide their daily bread, whereas I talk about airport projects. Airports are bakeries, if I would answer bread for bread to this metaphor. Airports are not bus stops, where someone gets on and someone else gets off. Airports bring consumers, people who would eat, sleep and pay for various entertainment activities through different attractions, and they wish to visit different spaces, attend artistic events and would need health care and services of other nature. This is why, as all researches show the measured economic impact of an airport investment is in 1 to 24 ratio. For each invested euro, you would receive 24 euros in earnings. If construction of an airport would cost 100 million euros, you should multiply it with 24 to calculate the revenue that the airport would generate in the economy. It differs when it comes to the tourist port, yet it leads you to the same direction. If we would build a port for at least 300 or 400 boats in Vlora it would mean that 300 or 400 crews will stay here and they will consume, without taking into account the fact that tourist ports bring in a huge number of visitors during the tourism season. The new businesses, the new hotels due to be constructed and other services due to be launched will certainly seek to hire more employees. This would also lead to the increase of wages, because the service quality should further improve.

So, I think the perspective is there, but what I am saying, and I don’t know whether I would lose votes by saying it, but this is the truth; we live in an historic phase with a negative trend of people seeking to migrate, in the sense that the number of those leaving the country is higher than those who are returning back home. This is not a phenomenon taking place in Albania only, but it is affects all the former communist countries that have emerged from long isolation. It was only a period of time when Albanians didn’t leave the country and this when Enver Hoxha caged Albanians in like goldfinches that had to sing the party’s song only. If we are to look into the past, Albanians have always moved. I would never tell a 20 or 25-year-old boy or a girl, who would say they want to try and see their perspective abroad, because they can’t wait another term in office of anyone in order to earn and provide things they would wish to have them today. We live in a completely different time.

What is scandalous here is the propaganda about this issue, because I see it as a phenomenon with young people, who don’t find themselves here, and it is as if a cell of my blood is running away from me, in terms of the pain it causes, but on the other hand, Albanians have been moving since the ’90s. The claims suggesting 500.000 Albanians left the country since Edi Rama took office is madness. Such figures are not confirmed by any fact, but the truth is that there are more Albanians who leave the country than those returning back home. Let us not forget that there are many Albanians who have returned during this period and if you are to visit villages and the agricultural areas across the country, you would see that things have changed thanks to the experience of those who have returned back home. Going abroad is an exchange of cultures and is not the end of the world.

The historical trend will repeat itself and it is not I or anyone else to decide about it as an individual. This is decided by the development and the wider context. In 2019, as many as 100,000 Croatians were registered with the employment offices in Germany, making the issue more complex. We don’t have a magic wand as to make Albania a country, where Albanian young people can find here what they seek to find elsewhere, but we are on the right direction. Let no one forget that Germany and Italy were not built in 7 years or in 30 years, but it took many years and decades and even centuries. Plus, it’s not insignificant to keep in mind that the names I mentioned are the biggest powers in the world. Earlier we met a group of Italian nationals who live in Vlora and who said “we came here, because it is better for us than living in Italy.” We are situated at the heart of the world’s wealthiest continent. The richest nations are just a one-hour flight away and the contrast is huge and this incites dissatisfaction among young people. There are only two things to say.

Are we better than we used to be just seven years ago in terms of the future?

I think this is unquestionably the case.

However, if we are to look at it in terms of where we should be, I am the first one to say; No, we are no there. Vlora is today one of the most evident examples of the transformation. It is not Vlora I want to be and which I think we will build soon. A part of Vlora is really spectacular, yet a part of it is really disastrous, as it used to be, but it actually means it is worse since several years have passed since then. I am not saying whole city of Vlora is like the Waterfront Promenade, the main thoroughfare, the historical centre or the neighbourhoods were rehabilitation projects have been implemented. There is still a lot to be done, yet we are on the right direction and all these projects should simply go on.

– An operator in the fisheries sector pointed out that the legal changes initiated and adopted by the government over the past seven years concerning two main issues; first, oil was a dual system, implemented and did not go bankrupt and second, the formalization of fisheries. As these have been done, other things that are in process are needed. Answering to his question about Triport project and the fish market, the Prime Minister said:

No comparison can be drawn regarding the situation of the fishing sector today. Seven years ago, Albania’s seafood exports were estimated at around 18 million euros. Albania’s seafood exports today are estimated at over 105 million euros. The industry’s potential is that fish exports grow to a value of over 300 million euros. We are halfway. We have done a good part of it, but a lot remain to be done to take the fisheries sector to where it deserves to be. It is a battle going on between us and we can’t give up now. The today’s fishing port is like a medieval port. The idea about the fish market is not just about collecting and storing or selling seafood products. It is all about creation of the fish stock exchange. This is what we need to build. I am very pleased that a project on the fishing port is now ready.

We have adopted the decision to materialize in procedural terms the relocation of the existing port so that it clears the way to the investment project on the tourist port.

In the meantime, the project will allow for the construction of the cargo and fishing port, two separate ports indeed, to begin soon. If you are to look at the design it would seem like coming from another world and there will be built a fishing port, a fish market, as well as fish restaurants, just like it is the case everywhere else around the world. It would be like you are visiting a modern fair and not a medieval pond. This is typical in every sector, including fishing. I am very pleased that we now have the opportunity to affirm that projects in Vlora are entering a finalization stage and work to build them will kick off soon. The funding has been allocated, the site has been determined and the process is underway.

-Answering to the interest of a local resident on continuation of the Selenice road project and the most recent statements from the President of the Republic, alleging that the government had given up the project, PM Rama said:

I would start with I would call as the road tail, namely the President. Unfortunately, Ilir is not a President. He is a consistent abuser of the institution and the role of the President. He is misusing that institution and role to serve his political enterprise that formally, but not really, is headed by his spouse. The President is saying whatever he thinks would lead to more votes in favour of his party enterprise. Ilir Meta is abusing the role of an institution, which is the symbol of national community, according to the Constitution, and this country has never had a President who uses a road project not to unite people by misinforming. I have stated it earlier and I repeat, Ilir Meta has achieved the impossible. If you are to describe him according to Ilir Meta’s standards, then Bujar Nishani would resemble to Jefferson for being a more normal and correct President while in office.

The truth is pretty simple. We have taken over and we are committed to deliver on two main things that have been long-promised, not 30, but 50 or 60 years ago, namely construction of the Vlora River road and construction of the road linking Laberi region with the Coast area, which will put an end to the isolation of Kurvelesh region. The two projects are now becoming a reality. And I am not talking about designs, but projects already under implementation.

The Vlora river project, for funding reasons, as the project costs significantly, was divided into four sections, and the fourth section is the segment linking Peshkepi dhe Selenice, which was to be funded by the Saudi Fund. The project’s cost turned out to be very high and, in the meantime, we were seeking to review the project as we wanted for the project to incur a reasonable cost and find a reasonable solution in engineering terms, and therefore we decided to relocate the fund to support Radhima project running in parallel with the Vlora River road, as there are two projects from the Orikum tunnel; one is the road project and the other is the extension of the Waterfront Promenade project that rehabilitates entire coast with certain areas to serve tourists and holidaymakers.

At this point, Mr. President comes forward and tells us: “You cannot do this,” causing all this uproar, which is something tragic-comic like everything else Ilir does. This is the truth. In the meantime, we remade the entire restoration project at a more reasonable cost, about $10 million. The Albanian Development Fund, which is the authority that has constructed whole River road, has announced the tender. So the Peshkëpi-Selenica road will be built.

We will surely build the two roads. Nobody can stop Vlora’s development. The more they resort to such intrigues, the more they will get what they deserve in payback from these areas, which have been the most discriminated ones. I have looked at the figures over the past 30 years and this area has been the most discriminated one until we took office in 2013. A small insignificant volume of investments have been implemented in this area since the regime change in 1991, with both the centre-right and centre-left governments doing nothing at all, except for the investments implemented by the municipality over all this period.

Facts are shown through figures. The investments in whole Vlora district amount to over one billion euros over the past seven years. If we are to consider this whole amount of one billion euros and scatter it throughout this entire 30-year period, we have paid back to Vlora a debt that owed to it not by the Socialist Party, but the central government in Tirana, those who come here to observe a one-minute silence at the tomb of Ismail Qemali. They used to come and come here to award medals to the Vlora war dead. That’s why I say if there is a place where the vote should not be party affiliation, but should be historical affiliation should be Vlora, is this area here.

-Regarding the project investments in the Orikum area, PM Rama said:

In the meantime, we are progressing with the segment of the road to Orikum. We are also pressing ahead with the Orikum-Llogara road project, which is currently under construction. The next project is the Llogara tunnel, with the tender expected to conclude over these days and work will ensue immediately as soon as the contract with the winner is signed. Many companies have shown interest in the international tender.

Let’s not forget that this term in office has been an atypical one, as half of it was consumed by the earthquake, which shifted a major part of our attention and energy, as well as funding, plus the pandemic, and therefore many projects were slowed down.

I am fully confident that Vlora has been created to be one of the most powerful engines of this country’s perspective. Vlora has the potential to be transformed into a power not only for the Vlora citizens, but also for the mainstream economy of the country, and would become extremely influential, making available all these mechanisms. Yesterday, I came across data on businesses operating along the Waterfront Promenade. When I earlier used to state that the prices will soar and Vlora citizens would see their property values increase, I was criticized for talking nonsense. I am telling you today that it won’t take 40 years, but as soon as tourism sector fully opens once the pandemic is over, and it would take just few years for Kumja, a remote area that nobody would think it will ever generate income and household economy, but with the new infrastructure being built there now and with the improvement of the conditions in the private homes there, it would be an important tourist destination during the summer season.

We are continuously looking at the hotel construction projects. It is clearly a concrete perspective. The start of the work to construct the airport will spur more investments. Be assured that what I am saying will turn into concrete facts much sooner than they seem today.

– Besides the Vlora’s tourist port and the fishing port projects, one of the participants in this conversation asked about time when construction of the new cargo seaport is expected to commence and when the port would become operational. The Premier said:

The Triport area has been picked as the site to host the two seaports, namely the fishing port and the cargo and containers port. The project’s design is ready and I believe and hope  – I learned the lesson from the airport project and therefore I won’t set deadlines and dates – their construction will begin in the next two or three months at most. The project will bring about a tremendous change. Let’s be realistic. The existing port is a joke considering the era we are living in and compared to the ambition plans we have for Vlora’s development. Just like it is the case with the port of Durres, a port located right at the heart of the city triggering immense pollution, but which will be replaced by the new tourist port, whereas the containers port will be built on the other side.

 –Do you have any concrete plan on tourism recovery following the huge damage this sector has sustained due to the pandemic? This was the question made by a participant and to which the Premier answered as following:

Yesterday, I met a tour operator who confirmed what I actually know that operators didn’t suffer losses during the last tourism season. I believe that tourism is a sector which is really the future and has really an incredible potential. New investments in tourism will boom and it may thrive more than any other sector in terms of revenues the sector will certainly generate for their investors, but it would take some time and it takes a lot of patience, and more agile and resourceful structures to deliver quality service. However, it is for sure that this would be the case as it can’t be otherwise. What we need to do is to closely cooperate and make more efforts to enhance capacities and improve quality of the service.

As to the direct support, I believe we have supported the sector directly by reducing the Value Added Tax rate to six percent only. I recall the time when tour operators kept complaining and issued repeated calls for the VAT to be reduced to 8%. We cut it to 6% and all operators were satisfied. While individuals in the government used to say the Ministry of Tourism should be closed as it is no longer needed. I told them the Ministry of Tourism should strengthen further as the complaints will keep rising.

While the pandemic was really dreadful for the sector, but the government move to keep the border with Kosovo open and the fact that Albanians were unable to travel abroad made that the hotels be fully booked during the last summer season. I don’t think you have earned less, because the accommodation and service prices remained unchanged. This season was a significant indicator of how much money Albanians spend while on vacations and how many of them spend holidays abroad.

Another aspect that has indirectly helped the sector a lot is that many Albanians who are used to otherwise spend their holidays in Montenegro, Greece, Italy, Spain, Turkey, this year they discovered Albania. This is concrete. A significant part of them knew Tirana, Durres and probably Vlora only.

– Another question concerned the investment projects to improve the internal neighbourhoods in Vlora and the Premier said:

All it remains now is to kick off projects to rehabilitate the city’s neighbourhoods. The Flag Square is being rehabilitated and rehabilitation and urban renewal of the residential neighbourhoods is what we need to do in Vlora now. We have actually commenced some initial urban renewal projects. Some minor rehabilitation works have been conducted by the Vlora municipality, for the sake of truth, but the current projects that have been recently launched are actually designed to rehabilitate the internal neighbourhoods.

Building sewerage and wastewater systems, water supply networks and urban rehabilitation of  the neighbourhoods will be the upcoming projects in Vlora. Investments are already underway in whole Orikum area. The investment in building the promenade stretching to Orikum is underway.

I am convinced that these neighbourhoods will become part of the tourism industry, as it is the case with all these realities. Vlora is a small city considering that whole tourist influx it has to cope with and therefore tourist accommodation will spread to these neighbourhoods, with residents making their apartments and dwellings available for accommodation of the visitors. This will generate income for everyone.