In his two-day visit to Italy, the Albanian Prime Minister Rama presented Albania as a new horizon for the large Italian investors. He invited the large investors of Lombardy to start their undertakings in Albania. This visit by the Prime Minister comes within a series of such visits that began in Puglia Region and were followed by the meeting with the Italian Confindustria in Rome a few weeks ago and have as a purpose to unfold Albania’s potential.
In the meeting with BOSCH Group, the Prime Minister made an introduction of the reforms undertaken by the new Government of Albania in only a few months. Such reforms are aimed at bringing Albania closer to Europe and consist of fighting organized crime and crime in general and combating corruption. Additionally, he presented the administrative reforms that have an impact on attracting foreign investments, as well as the structural reforms required in Albania’s European membership process.
Responding to the high interest shown by the Italian investors attending the meeting hosted by BOSCH Group, the Prime Minister declared that Albania meets the need of Italian undertakings to become international with great opportunities to be explored and used, which are accompanied by a range of facilities for these investors.
The geographic proximity, a low-cost labour force, the tax system and the strong support the Government provides to every investment that creates jobs were some of the key features that Prime Minister Edi Rama mentioned as crucial to attract the Italian investors to our country. “The reason why we are here is, above all, that our request for investments is closely linked to the need for the development of certain areas, on one hand, and to the creation of new jobs, on the other. Every job-creating investment is a priority to us. To this end, we are focusing on the manufacture sector, but there are obviously other industries as well that create jobs and which we are open to welcome and provide with sites, facilities that need restructuring but are already existing, old depots, old military bases. These are facilities which Italian investors have found highly advantageous earlier, but we will lift those barriers that have made their lives hard so far, such as the rental cost. Thus, we will, as said, lift the burden of the rental cost setting it at 1 Euro, regardless of the surface area in square meters that will be made available to an undertaking to establish its infrastructure. It will be 1 Euro only and not per one month,” the Prime Minister said.
Further, PM Rama meet with the Assolombardia Association of Investors and focused on the opportunities Albania provides for investments in hydroelectric energy, tourism, infrastructure and agriculture. “We are convinced that Albania constitutes a new horizon for the world of Italian investors, because Italian enterprises can find there what they lack here. It is sufficient to say that the corporate income tax is at only 15 %, the labour arm comes at a much lower cost compared to what you have here. Albania is rich in water resources. It is the second richest country in Europe, after Norway. Consequently, there are many water resources to be exploited, which make for a high hydroelectric energy potential. Further, there is a lot to be done in agriculture. We have by now made the first contacts with the Italian agricultural enterprises that are interested in bringing part of their undertaking to Albania or have already done so. Investing in Albania today does not mean you invest exclusively there, as there is a new geo-political reality In place nowadays following the peace agreement between Kosovo and Serbia, which brought to a close the conflicting era in the region, turning the latter into a new platform of economic development and regional cooperation. From the market perspective, we find ourselves with a market that goes beyond the Albanian borders, because it is not only Kosovo, another state with Albanians, with which we have an increasingly close cooperation, but also the rest of the region,” Prime Minister Rama said.
The Prime Minister also visited the European Institute of Oncology. PM Rama is known for his earlier statements on launching initiatives to promote the strategy for the prevention of tumour diseases, with particular focus on girls and women. The visit and meetings with senior officials of the European institute had as a purpose to establish points for collaboration with one of the international centres of excellence.
The Prime Minister Edi Rama was accompanied during his visit in Italy by the Minister of Economic Development and Entrepreneurship, Arben Ahmetaj, Foreign Minister, Ditmir Bushati, and the MPs Artan Gaci, Blendi Klosi and Taulant Balla.
