Prime Minister Edi Rama on Tuesday held an open meeting with representatives of business associations in the country entitled “Deregulation and business climate,” which kick-starts a process of discussion and interaction with the entrepreneurship, on the government’s initiative to facilitate services for business, as part of an important step that the government will undertake, namely that of enhancing the policies of the National Economic Council and improving the business climate.

* * * 

Prime Minister Edi Rama: Thank you all for your presence in this meeting that kick-starts a process of discussion and interaction with the entrepreneurship to collectively identify all those bureaucratic links and those burdens in administrative procedures that can be eliminated with view to further improving the climate of doing business.

I believe that you have all heard that a few days ago Albania received a new outlook rating from the prestigious Standard & Poors agency that assesses all countries and rates them based on progress and economic outlook and, for the first time, upgraded its outlook for Albania from stable to positive.

 And this is a very meaningful signal, very significant about what we have done so far and very encouraging about what we can do going forward, but one of the critical elements where I believe the time has come for us to refocus together is on the one hand making an in-depth analysis, which we have started at the level of government institutions and structures on all procedures and we have begun to do it by looking at each procedure with a critical eye to understand what can be read from the perspective of what is laid down, but this would be an incomplete exercise if we do not get from you, based on your daily experience, and based on your interactions with the institutions, the perspective on how those procedures that are already in place to obtain a license, to obtain a permit, to get pertinent paperwork done as part of your activity, translate into everyday reality and which of them actually more than serve the interest of the state, impede the interest of the state and the climate of doing business alike, burden the business climate. The minister, who has the responsibility of working more specifically on the business climate, informed you that a questionnaire will be circulated to businesses, but beyond the questionnaire we would welcome any kind of feedback from you based on your experience.

Removal of barriers and establishing as many breathing channels as possible for the organism of society today that links up business with the state as two parties that must interact with each other in view of private and public interest is a constant must and I believe that it is a process that always has room for improvement, but today at this very stage, bearing in mind that it is  several years now since  we took steps forward in terms of previous facilities, it is high time to review all the processes and to come up with another relief.

We are doing our work at the level of institutions, but at the end of the day this is a work that is done for entrepreneurship and for the ease of doing business in Albania, so you are both the scope and the subject of this work and therefore your contribution is not only welcome, but also necessary, irreplaceable. In this process, the minister will also hold specific meetings with all sectors and sub-sectors, as well as conduct “interviews” with certain stakeholders in each sector to get as much feedback as possible and as many practical suggestions as possible from the daily reality of work and that cannot be deduced either from what they read in the papers or from the examination of the papers. This is more or less the reason for this meeting and meanwhile we are working even now that we are in the phase of discussing next year’s budget and we will put more focus on digital evolution, increasing capacities and adding new services, we have also started a very innovative work with the support and direct assistance of Microsoft for artificial intelligence that will facilitate us I believe in certain processes starting from the public procurement process for which we have a very ambitious project that will take its own time, but we are confident that within this term of office, we will have a completely revolutionized public procurement system in place, with much more technological components and much less human components so that procurements are as transparent and as fair as possible at all levels.

We have also moved forward and I believe you have been kept in the loop about the law, the projects of creating a public limited company, S.A. , that will carry out the entire process of centralized purchases, which is actually done by the Concentrated Purchasing Agency at the Ministry of Interior. This will be a public company that will provide much more access and will necessarily have much more transparency and accountability in relation to the public interest and the interest of all operators.

I believe that, however, with technology or not, what we are discussing today is crucial because at the end of the day, any process, be it human or technological, will be based on the conditions, criteria and guidelines laid down in the documentation with which the business should operate.

Administrative barriers are part of the daily problems facing a government that will make the work as easy as possible for business entities or citizens, without question, but they are even more than that, part of the cause for concern, often unnecessary,  among businesses in their daily activity. 

Therefore I wanted to make a couple of remarks, asking you to take this exercise seriously and to give your input in order for us to have as much data base as possible and have as many practical suggestions as possible, which only come from those who are on the ground every day to do business and advance their entrepreneurial projects.

Thank you.