Albania, a country which has friendly opened its doors to foreign investors – is the message Prime Minister Rama conveyed at the meetings with Italian entrepreneurs in the region of Veneto. During his two-day visit to the Veneto region, Prime Minister Rama visited many important companies and talked with executives and renowned entrepreneurs in different sectors, to whom he presented the endless possibilities and facilities that Albania offers in order to carry forward their investments in areas of common interest. Thus, the Prime Minister visited Fincantieri, the largest company in Europe and fourth in the world for shipbuilding. Its leaders showed interest to visit Albania and to open a site in our country.
Prime Minister Rama talked to 200 Italian enterpreneurs of the Veneto region about the potential and the advantages that Albania offers today to foreign investors in various fields such as energy, tourism, agriculture, etc.
The Prime Minister informed entrepreneurs on the measures taken to significantly facilitate not only the start of an investment in Albania, but also to support it through the years. “In order to avoid all bureaucracies, we have set up a structure to facilitate entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs who come to Albania. We have also adopted a legal framework which allows to rent spaces for one euro a year, which means for free, for a period of 20, 30, 40 years, depending on the type of investment, the type of structure that will be placed there”- the Prime Minister said.
In addition, the Prime Minister said that these measures and others similar to them, on which the government is constantly working, have yielded results in a very short time. “This measure has yielded an immediate result in this sector where exports have increased by 30% since our very first year. Because our work as a new government started last year in September, while the support package for the manufacturing sector was implemented at the beginning of this year. So, in less than 7 months we have seen an increase of 30%. In addition, we placed the entire manufacturing sector in the category of exporters without risk, which means that customs’ bureaucratic procedures will be much faster.”
Prime Minister Rama informed investors that will face a whole new situation, more favorable and less bureaucratic, marked by transparency and speed in carrying out fiscal procedures. “Automatic VAT reimbursement, that unfortunately has been one of the biggest problems in the past, is already active. This means that not only VAT reimbursement will not take 60 days, but it will be done in a very transparent way, without any kind of problem, compared with previous problems.”
Foreign investors who want to start a business in Albania, the Prime Minister said, will always find support of the government who has designed and approved a clear legal framework that will serve as the impetus for the development of these investments, starting from the tax system, social contributions for employees, etc.
“When someone starts a business in the manufacturing sector in Albania, we do not require contributions for the first year. For every new job, the company does not have to pay social contributions. This is due to the fact that we consider this first year as an important year. It is the state that pays social contributions. We passed a law in which we decided that all revenues that the state collects from income tax of manufacturing companies are returned to this sector for all those enterprises that submit innovation and investment projects that create new jobs. In short, a strong and healthy enterprise does not pay anything, because what it pays as profit tax returns to the enterprise as a form of support for innovation, investment and job creation; so practically, it operates tax-free.”
The Prime Minister invited entrepreneurs to make all together of this day, the successful collaboration of the century between Venice and Albania. “500 years ago our ancestors had understood everything and they used to do since then round trips between Venice and Albania. Maybe it’s time to remember and to return 500 years back in time in order to strat fresh, because 500 years have passed and we have not understood anything” –said jokingly the Prime Minister during the 2-hour conversation with entrepreneurs who were quite interested in our country.
Prime Minister Rama visited also several factories specialized in processing and the production of packing paper.
