Full text of the remarks by Prime Minister Edi Rama during presentation of the 2030 National Energy Strategy:

Hello everyone!

First of all, I would like to express gratitude to all those who assisted and supported us during the crucial process of drafting a National Energy Strategy, of course to the US government and USAID mission, which, first and foremost, with their expertise lead to the materialization of our ambition in a document of strategic importance to the energy sector, but also to the economy and the Albanian society as a whole.

Such a development would have been unimaginable a few years ago, since the energy sector was in complete collapse and it was the main threat to our country’s finances and economy. The most significant symbol of this threat was the power distribution utility, which was going through a dramatic phase in all respects, but also in terms of its very own existence from a legal point of view.

I believe what we did represents a significant transformation in all aspects, starting with its most essential aspect, bringing legitimacy to the energy sector and actually transforming the company from a risky asset to the economy and finance into an increasingly efficient asset that offers good returns day after day thanks to the thorough restructuring and daily work of the relevant management team at the Ministry of Infrastructure and Energy and the company itself.

It might be enough to remind you that in order to maintain the power distribution system operational and to provide electricity supply to consumers, the state budget allocated an average of 150 million euros in subsidies annually to make up for the massive electricity theft and the grid losses due to complete amortization and impairment of the network; it is suffice to recall that we inherited a situation with power grid losses at an about 50% rate, whereas losses today are halved and the National Strategy foresees further cutting them down to a 10% rate, which would be the average rate of all member states of the today’s European Union. Let alone the energy market, as we have already undertaken a courageous liberalization process and we predict to establish a 100 percent open energy market in few years span.

Today, thanks to this process, we have already embarked on preparations for another major step forward I’m confident will bring about a new atmosphere in the relations between the consumers and the power distribution utility, but it will also take the company’s restructuring, performance, transparency and efficiency into another level.

We have launched work on an initial public offering (IPO) and hopefully we will be ready to provide Albanian citizens the opportunity to participate as shareholders in the power distribution company by the end of this year, while driven by ambition to ensure that the company becomes an utility where the citizens’ massive participation as shareholders yields to mutual benefits both to the company itself and the citizens, who could join the shareholder majority both as contributors and beneficiaries. This was simply unimaginable few years ago. Meanwhile, today this is not only possible, but we also strongly believe it is necessary to take the company to a wholly new stage.

We are convinced that the energy market’s liberalization will lead to exceptional improvements in all aspects of the sector’s activity, just like we are profoundly confident that investment in interconnection lines, starting from the already built power line with Kosovo – which will hopefully be unblocked at its operational stage through the ongoing Kosovo-Serbia dialogue – to a new line with Macedonia, a significant fund under the Berlin Process, which will also significantly boost Albania’s role as an important factor in the region’s common energy market, which is to us the only viable perspectives to increase the sector’s impact on the economy and finances of our country and our families.

We are indisputably aware of the necessity of further capacity building. The 400 megawatts added capacity is not insignificant, but yet insufficient to fully meet the domestic demand, as well as increased security of energy supply through further investment growth, improved energy efficiency, use of renewable energy resources and putting in place further measures to protect the environment are the challenges that I believe are best foreseen in this important strategic document.

Introducing the new element of gas and gasification to the sector as an element of great importance is on one hand a great potential, but also a major challenge to maximize utilization of the Trans -Adriatic Pipeline and further continue with the Adriatic-Ionian pipeline, as well as the possible link between Albania and Kosovo with the natural gas pipeline too.

What I believe it is worth pointing out in the end is the harmonization of our internal market with the regional energy market and the European market. This is not an easy process posing many challenges and unknowns, but yet indispensable. To this end, advancing the liberalization of the domestic market by ensuring full competition, high transparency and certainly the encouragement of solar energy production or wind energy are sufficiently well described on the strategic document, both in terms of potential and the steps to be taken to use this potential.

If I was to summarize what has happened and what we want to make happen, it is quite simple: Albania’s energy sector was the biggest problem, a deep hole posing a chain of risks to the country’s economy. Today, the sector is a potential put open to exploitation, which also remains an open challenge and it is precisely this open challenge this strategic document clearly addresses, which extends into a time span that if referred to in 2030 it may sound an infinite time, but in fact it is neither more nor less, but only a dozen years.

Now, experience tells us that time goes by so fast, years pass quickly and if we took 25 years to turn the wheel to the right direction to avoid the abyss, 12 years are a time span of a transformational challenge, with every single day being of fundamental importance, as they are years that pass very fast. It is important that every day and every year the results improve continuously towards a sustainable improvement.

Once again thank you very much to all those who contributed to the process of drafting this strategic document! Many thanks to all local experts who have been an irreplaceable value in this process and all the participants, who have all contributed to turn this sector in the right direction!

I am convinced that with this strategy at hand, everyone will feel more motivated and confident in the ongoing joint work and new investments, be either those under regional co-operation or bilateral cooperation projects or the private sector investments.

Thank you very much!