Prime Minister Edi Rama participated today in the proceedings of the conference Albania: A New Horizon, held in Vienna, Austria, dedicated to promoting Albania as a prime destination for strategic investments in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, tourism, and technology, while fostering long-term partnerships for the country’s sustainable development.
The conference, organized by Raiffeisen Bank International and Raiffeisen Bank Albania in cooperation with the Albanian Investment Corporation, featured wide-ranging discussions across several parallel panels, including: “Macroeconomic Developments and Albania’s Outlook”; “Albania: An Emerging Hub for Investments (Business Climate and Ease of Doing Business)”; and “Albania’s Overall Potential in Key Sectors”, among others.
Prime Minister Rama addressed the event at its opening, following the welcome remarks delivered by Johann Strobl, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of RBI, and Valerie Brunner, Member of the Management Board for Corporate and Investment Banking at RBI.
The agenda then continued with an interactive Q&A dialogue, moderated by Mr. Christian Wehrschütz, with active participation from the audience.
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Christian Wehrschütz: Dear Mr. Prime Minister there is one strange situation in Germany and Austria. We have a writer who has never been in the United States and who has never been in the Balkans, but he influenced our picture of the United States and the Balkans for generations. And this is Karl May. This book was written in the year 1888, and Karl May’s books sold in all over Germany and Austria for more than 200 million copies. So, this is a person who really influenced everybody in our generation. And he wrote about the legal system at the same time Ottoman Empire, and I quote him in his book, Through the Lands of the Shqiptars, Turkish jurisprudence is known for its peculiarities. We might even say it dark sides, which become more pronounced the more remote the errors in questions are. Under the local conditions, it is not surprising that we are the various and unruly tribes the Shqiptars have their residence, no real law can be spoken of. The territory of the Shqiptars, who know only one law, that the weaker must yield to the stronger, in Strumica. If we did not want the worst to come out, we had to claim this law for ourselves as well.
What you think must be done in the cooperation between countries of the Western Balkans, Albania and European Union, to improve this image that we come not to a situation that negotiations have successfully finished, but then you have maybe referendums, and the development like in Romania. So, what must be done also from this point of view?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Well, I would say that with all due respect for you, starting this very thrilling conference with a boring question of what we should do with the European Union to get in, is not the right way, and talking about stereotypes, I brought here a very, very intriguing way to describe Vienna from three-time nominee for Nobel Prize, Karl May, who said in Berlin, these are Albanian guys. In Berlin, things are serious but not hopeless. In Vienna, things are hopeless but not serious. So, you are hopeless but not serious, I guess. And before going back to the question, of course, because I must answer, I just want to express a heartfelt thank you to the Raiffeisen Bank, to the leadership of the bank, both in Vienna and in Tirana.
I want also to express a big thank you to the Tirana director, Christian Canacaris, a very strange mix of Greek, French, Austrian, and Albanian lately, who has been amazing in lending Raiffeisen at the center of our financial and economic life, and who has been very, very gracious in supporting, first and foremost, with capacities and knowledge, the local actors that never missed. Passion and ambition but needed a lot of help in terms of knowledge. And going one step further about Vienna and Raiffeisen, I’m not sure that everyone knows here that the first entity that was approached by the new Albanian state in 1912 was the Wienner Bank Verein from the newly formed first government in the history of Albania, of independent Albania, and was asked if it could help Albania to set up a national bank and a modern banking system, but history went in a different way, so many, many years were needed for Albania to enter a modern banking system, and again it was Vienna through Raiffeisen, that in 2000 the CEO of Raiffeisen landed in Albania. And it was amazing how his arrival was reflected in the Albanian media, because he said that it was time for Albanians to get the money out of the mattresses, and the main newspaper wrote the CEO of Raiffeisen is in Tirana, the ghost of civil war is back in town. Which shows how much reluctant Albanians have been about banks, and it’s a reluctance that is not completely evaporated from Albanians’ life.
Don’t forget that behind that there is, of course, the lack of tradition, but there is also 50 years of brainwash during the big isolation when the communist regime told us every day that the two ultimate evil things that capitalism does to people are banks and taxes. So, convincing a population that has been brainwashed in that way, that banks and taxes are not evil but are an intrinsic part of life in a free society, in a free market, is easier said than done.
So, again, a big, big thank you to them who made possible this event, to everyone that is in the room coming from Austria, else, or Albania, and I very much hope that this day will be refreshing and will be inspiring. And for them who have never been to Albania yet, it’s time to come, because it’s a place worth visiting, even for pleasure only.
Going back now to your boring question, we are in a very advanced process. Practically, we are opening the chapters of the negotiations with a speed that is unseen in the history of accessions, but I have to say this is a combination between our merits and the new European Union approach towards enlargement, thanks or because of the war in Ukraine that has shaken Europe big time and has given to the leadership in the European Union the sense that the geopolitical importance of a united Europe is existential and that the Western Balkans are a natural part of the European Union future body.
So, because of what we have done, and because of what Putin has done, we are now in a very intensified process of accession. And I’m very hopeful that this is going to happen sooner rather than later, while the plan which is agreed with the Commission is to end the technical part, so all accession talks at the end of 2027.
Dear Mr. Prime Minister, you have mentioned the time of Enver Hoxha, and there is one building in Tirana.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: I mentioned Enver Hoxha?
-No, you mentioned the 50 years of brainwashing.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: The 50 years, yes.
So, this is also this time, and there is a building which reflects the deep changes of Albania now in Tirana. This is a pyramid which was a museum, which is now really a public space for meetings and negotiations. And, if you look at Raiffeisen, as in coming to the country, now we have a digitalization, now we have a Minister of Public Procurement for Artificial Intelligence. Can you explain a little bit how this member of government will now act, will be used? What does this mean for procurement? Can you explain a little bit more what the aim of this ministry is?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: I can try. Yes, it’s a very symbolic, but not only symbolic, change. What happened to the pyramid, because from a very dark shadow of the past in the center of the city for many years, now the pyramid has turned in the heart of change when it comes to new technologies and innovation. And part of it is, of course, the very important and heavy involvement of the government with new technologies and innovation, which, as a matter of fact, has created a paradox in Albania, that the government is much more ahead than the private sector when it comes to innovation and use of the tools of new technologies.
As a matter of fact, we today have wiped out completely, and since some years, frankly, the physical services and the front offices and the long queues of people waiting to get a service, and 95% of the services are now delivered online and everyone can be served through his or her smartphone, being in Tirana or being in Australia. It doesn’t matter, which is a great, great change, even considering how demanding the previous system of physical interaction was and how much petty corruption was in the system, which today is completely wiped out. But the good side of it, or let’s say the beneficial side of it, is coming back to even better AI. So now we are preparing a new step forward on this platform where the minister, and she can be in different places, which we can’t, will serve the people in this platform just by simple demand.
So, today people have still to take their own steps in terms of getting the service. They must go from one column to the other and to the other and to go to the service and then ask. Very soon they will simply interact with the minister in FaceTime, and they will say I need this. I need this certificate, or I need this paper, or I need this license or whatever. Just that. And she will provide.
So, you will not need to do anything. Just ask. So, the citizen will be the boss, and the minister will be just serving. So, this is one of the many things that she will do. And when it comes to public procurement, this is a very big step forward and it’s an absolute new thing.
Some few months ago there was a big workshop in Tirana with 16 representatives of 16 different countries that interacted with our agency of innovation about public procurement and the possibility to transform the public procurement in a process that is based on AI. And in our understanding, our project is the only one that has a holistic approach, because there are some programs and there are some different ways to do, to involve artificial intelligence with public procurement, but parts of the process. There is not one process. It’s ambitious. It needs a lot of work. We work with Microsoft and with some other talents. And we are very much hopeful that this is going to be the case because we have worked a lot to have the right architecture.
Basically what it means is that once it will be in place, the whole process of public procurement will be run by artificial intelligence and will be fast, will be transparent, will be very much a relief for the companies because they will not need to collect papers here and there and to make big files and to provide information that is very demanding in terms of time, in terms of cost. They will have simply to write their names, express their interests, put the price and wait for it. So, this is a bit of the ambition.
-When we did one interview with you during this year, you mentioned also that in the negotiation process, in the process of adapting the key common idea to the Albanian legislation, you are using artificial intelligence?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Her, her, it’s her. So, she is doing it and this is happening. So as a matter of fact, companies that entered in accession talks had to go through a must. They had to involve armies of translators, of lawyers, of people that would work with the drafting and would make possibly the assessment about the impact and so on. Croatia, which was a very, very beautiful example of the way the integration, full integration went, needed seven years to simply do the transfer, the technical parts. So just to get more than 4,700 laws and bylaws of the ACQUIS in the Croatian body of law. Seven years. We are finishing it.
We started a year ago, then we’ll need less than another year to have everything done, not only the translation and the pre-drafting, but also several other things that she does in terms of giving us information about the impact, about the implications of a law, for example, on environment or something else, on our finances or on other parts of our legislation. So, this is done, this is being done.
-You have mentioned environment now shortly. When we had the enlargement process with Croatia, one of the most challenging chapters was implementation of environmental rules, because this demands a lot of money, the amount of construction. What do you see as the most challenging chapters in implementation?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: The process has some flexibility, meaning countries can negotiate an extension beyond the date of membership. Croatia, for example, negotiated, if I’m not wrong now, ten years of extension beyond the membership date exactly for the environmental chapter, which is very demanding, even for countries that are in the EU and for countries that have these standards, to continue and keep them is a permanent struggle. We have already agreed on an extension. It will be a challenge, but life is challenging.
-There are two countries in the so-called Western Balkans have really the best chances to join the European Union as fast as possible. This is Albania and Montenegro. Montenegro wants to be ready in the year 2028. In your election campaign, you mentioned joining in 2030. How likely do you think these two countries will join? Because one by one, also we have the so-called regatta principle, which might be very challenging also for the European ratification process. How likely do you see that we will have it?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Listen, I am a bit old in this job and I’ve seen other frontrunners before when in the beginning it Macedonia was. This is how it was called before changing sex. Now it’s called North Macedonia and is not anywhere in the in the loop. It was Serbia. Now it’s not anywhere. Albania was, you know, like one day maybe but not in our lifetime and now we are we are far ahead, but we should not think in terms of in terms of competition with other countries. We should think in terms of doing our job and this is how we thought when we were far behind, and nobody was even thinking to get us in in our lifetime and this is what we have to continue to do and the chances are big as I said because of the context but with the European Union you never know. It can change.
So, we must do the best in this moment in time when the stars are all aligned in our favor. It didn’t happen very often in our history to have the stars aligned in our favor and we must run and run and run and to not let this opportunity fade away.
So, Montenegro has a has a good chance also. Let’s see, hopefully also the other countries will hopefully Bulgaria will be more flexible with North Macedonia to let them negotiate because there is something very bad, a very bad habit in the European Union to take hostages. So, it’s a country napping, not a kidnapping, for internal politics. So, for internal politics one country takes hostage another country and makes of it grind meat in the public opinion, you know, kitchen.
I hope North Macedonia will have a normal path at least to have the negotiations because it doesn’t make any sense to me that the country in the EU blocks the talks with the country that want to enter the EU for some bilateral reasons which may be very legitimate but you don’t block the talks. You let the talks go on and when at the last moment the decision to membership comes you can say no there is something I need to solve. But it’s very it’s very political it’s very it’s very hypocritical, it’s crazy. So, I hope I hope this I hope Montenegro will not see something like that coming and I hope Serbia will come back on track and I hope also the same for Bosnia and Herzegovina for Kosovo also. So, it will be good to get them all in but we must solve our thing so we have to focus in our own self.
-This year’s remarks of the 5th of October remarks 25th anniversary of the fall of Slobodan Milošević in Belgrade 5th October 2000, 5th October 2025. Still the problem in between Serbia and Kosovo is not solved, still we have a very unstable situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina. How do you look at the development of the so-called Western Balkans of the whole region?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Listen it makes me sad to see to see that there is no progress at all in this in this direction and I have been and I am still convinced that for Kosovo the way was very is very clear you know Kosovo should not think about Serbia should not look at Serbia should not care what Serbia does but should do should do its part should do its homework and should give to the European Union all the all the homework book completed and should ask to go forward so it’s not about pleasing or accepting what Serbia demands is about of accepting what the European Union demands and this EU facilitated dialogue which is a big failure and it’s a failure because the format is wrong I’ve said it since day one is based on a very simple principle the countries have to fulfill conditions that are connected to the EU values principles and way of life so if Kosovo do it would be for in its best interest to not tie itself with Serbia to not think about how pleased or how unpleased Serbs will be but to just do it otherwise it will continue to isolate itself more and more and it’s a pity.
-Bosnia-Herzegovina, well how do you see the situations there?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: This question for another forum next year.
-My last question is as you have mentioned also in interviews but also now the Russians Ukrainian wars a Russian aggression Ukraine how do you see now the role of external factors or let’s say so-called external factors in the Balkans from Russia China maybe which countries which really want to get much stronger foothold in in the Balkans and mostly as a China has used enlargement fatigue to strengthen the influence, how do you see this role of external factors beyond and beside European Union in the Balkans?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: I would not put them in the same club Russia is is an aggressive player and has a disruptive agenda while China is a different type of player and the big difference is also in the fact that China has no has no objective to universalize its way of life China’s objective is to make business and to have possibly a long hands all over the world so if there are two different players and I would not see China as a threat or as an aggressive player or as whatever but there are there are nuances in this because when it comes to the critical infrastructure when it comes to everything that has to do with our security being military, being energy security and telecommunication security, we have made our mind since some time, and we are not going to change it. We are going to stick with our Western partners. When it comes to the rest, we are open. We have no problem with that. Related to China, with Russia, we have no business to do. We don’t miss them. We had them very close, and we didn’t miss them. We have no Russian money in our economy, and we are not looking forward to having. And for us, it’s enough to be on very good terms with Dostoyevsky, Kandinsky, and all the big guys. And when it comes to the guys in Moscow today, it’s not good company for us, and we’re not looking forward to it.
– May I add also one very popular quote we should have mentioned, of Russian writers, what to do, an eternal question also in Russian history. What to do, to do the right way, to become a European country or not. But this is an open question, I think, for the next 100 years.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: There is a Russian proverb that says it all. It says the future is clear, the past is a problem. So, until they solve this, we will not have to struggle. And finally, I want to say, we are a small country. We are not big players. We are blessed to not have to make the big decisions, as we are blessed to be friends with quite big guys. So it’s up for them to make the big decisions, and we follow.
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I wanted to ask you, Albania has a quite unique energy mix, pretty much more than 95% of the energy is coming from hydropower sources. How do you see the diversification of your energy mix? Say, 10 years from now, how much PV, wind, other technologies you envisage in the system? Thank you.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Thank you. Energy has been one of our very big problems to deal with, because we are in a very dire situation with our energy distribution company, practically a ghost with a very, very heavy debt. 50% of the people were not paying for energy, and the other 50% was paying more. $1.2 billion was the amount of debt of our distribution company. We were completely reliant on hydro, which was another big problem, because it depended completely on the humor of God. When God was not crying, we were crying big time.
Now we are in a totally different place. We have now a lot of new sources that are in operation or will be in operation. More than 10% of our energy now is produced by solar. Our aim is to bring it up to close to 30%. We are very confident that we’ll reach full sovereignty before 2030, meaning that we’ll be able to produce the energy we need and to have it during the whole year with no need to go to import, which is not the case today.
We are investing in solar energy. We are investing in wind. And we are also investing in a very new technology together with Statkraft, which is the pumping system of the existing hydro power, which practically will mean that we will be able, through recycling the water, to get energy from the same water and to practically bring up the amount of the energy produced by a 800 megawatt plant in a way that was unimaginable only some years ago.
So, I think that we are in a good place. And we’re going to be in a much better place very soon. Also, thanks to the agreement we have made with the Emirates and Italy for interconnecting Albania and Italy through a submarine cable and for having a new package of investments, exactly renewable, to add to the whole for the sake of export in the European Union. So, we are in a very good place.
We are real estate investors in hotels and tourism. And we started to buy land in Albania 10 years ago. My question is, do you have a season of 180 days. Together with the government, we must develop ideas to fulfill an idea for the other 180 days. Because of these 180 days of season, you cannot afford a hotel investment. So, we need cooperation with the government, for example, for old people’s retirements or other ideas. And my request is just maybe to create ideas to attract more investors in that field of tourism. Thank you.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: This is true, as it is true that the season is getting longer. So as a matter of fact, this year has shown very clearly that the numbers grew a lot concerning in relative terms, of course, compared to last year in April, May, June, and September. Let’s see October. But the question you raised or the challenge you mentioned remains.
We absolutely need to do more in that direction, but also I believe the investors themselves can do more in this direction, especially investors coming from Austria or Germany or Spain or not Spain, but I mean the northern countries that can help us to access the governmental or local government structures and to make deals as you mentioned, for example, the elderly people coming to spend more time in Albania or to spend a lot of time in Albania and so on, and I think it’s coming.
It’s coming also because our real estate is still booming and there is still a large room to buy real estate at an affordable price yet. So, what I would say to everyone here that has money, and you have a lot of money in Austria, to spend some of them to buy real estate, to buy apartments. It will be a great investment because the prices are going up and will go even higher when we reach the European Union, and as the other countries’ experience has shown, once you enter the European Union, your real estate doubles at least.
-How do you see the development of the north? Because this is also an issue, not only coastal development, coastal tourism, but you have so beautiful rural areas in Albania as well.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: It’s my conviction, all to be proved, but I believe that we are still very much known for the coast and us Albanians are very much hostage of our mindset that the coast is where our wealth or future wealth relies. It’s not true. I think that when the mountains are unlocked and when the investors start to invest in the mountains, there will be the real treasure. And I’m convinced that who is now starting a little bit to invest and practically we have also some Austrian money involved in a project that I hope will start soon for the first ski resort in the country. It will make a fortune because it’s amazing. It’s amazing. I can say that in the mountains we are by far the Austria of the Mediterranean.
-It’s true.
-Well, my question is we are already invested in the energy sector. I was wondering how you support the infrastructure investments in Turkey for foreign investors. Also I was wondering where do you see the biggest opportunities in the infrastructure area for foreign investors to attract foreign investors? Thank you.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: We are doing some big works in infrastructure, road infrastructure, for example, that are related to the interest and the capacity of private sector to come in and rely on the paid roads. And we are, as we speak, developing some projects like that. More will come and it can be of interest to explore these possibilities because we are positioned in a place where traffic will, it’s not just about within the country or coming to the country, but it’s also about crossing the country.
This will be more the case with the large mobility and with tourism growing and the forecasts are amazing overall in terms of how European tourism will grow, which will mean a lot of mobility and which will mean that the roads will be essential part of it. So this is one infrastructure that you can investigate. Then there are the railways, but it’s a more complicated sector for the private companies to weigh in. And then, of course, the energy, we do international calls for renewable investments. So, whenever these calls happen, you are very much welcome and the calls are very transparent, are done in cooperation with international institutions, and have been very good quality so far. And no complaints.
-Thank you for being with us today and sharing your thoughts and congratulations on the formation of the new government. A question on European convergence. Europe invented the engine of economic convergence and yet in the Western Balkans by many metrics the region has not been converging to EU average but largely diverging. So, what has been the mission? Ingredients or missing ingredients according to you in the past years. Thank you.
Prime Minister Edi Rama: It’s true and the divergence accentuated a lot during and after the pandemic because as you know the European Union engaged in big packages of self-help and the countries of you took advantage of incredible support from you which we didn’t have so this is an issue for sure is an issue and it’s another big reason to get into EU as soon as possible because converging with you without being part of the EU is not possible is there is no math but entering the EU then the music the music changes so it’s just through that we have more than doubled our GDP during these years but it’s not enough it’s not enough and when you see the other countries that have uh entered you what they get from you is shocking and I give you an example, if you take per capita the money that countries like Croatia which is close to us that’s why I’m mentioning, or Bulgaria or Romania get from EU is four thousand and few hundred euro per capita when you see what we get from EU per capita or what we got now it will change a bit because of this new growth plan but what we got is 132 euro so four thousand and few hundred and 130 it’s a gap that explains also the divergence you know but things are changing and with the with the new growth plan with the with the gradual integration which finally is happening because we pushed a lot in Brussels saying hey we cannot have it all or nothing.
So, until you get in European Union you are a member you have nothing you have just to comply you have just to bring up standards we have just to do everything like an EU country and you get nothing when you enter you get everything it should be something in the middle while we approach the EU and now there is this there is this gradual integration so more access in the single market, more access in finance, which is helping, of course it’s related to reforms, to a plan of homework fair enough we do the homework and we get more money and we get more access and this is fine so it’s changing but to answer straightforward your question there is only one answer get in the EU be part of this of this family, otherwise if you are outside you are like a cousin that is knocking too often at the door and you know how it goes you know with all the love for the cousin you know you just kick out the cousin in a certain moment in time because you have other things to do so we have to enter the EU and we will forcefully, with all the force of love.
Mr. prime minister thank you very much I only want to mention finally during 25 years in the Balkans I have not seen another country which has changed so rapidly like it was Albania in this last 20 years?
Prime Minister Edi Rama: Albania is the only country that has that has the best artists among the prime ministers and the best prime minister among artists so this nobody can take from me.
