22
Business and Investment Opportunities in Albania By His Excellency Nasip Naço Minister of Economy, Trade and Energy It is my great pleasure to contribute to the UK-Albania Investment Forum organised by the Albanian Embassy in London in partnership with International Business and Diplomatic Exchange (IBDE). I was also delighted to attend and contribute to a high level UK-Albania Business Forum organised on 25 January 2012 by the British Embassy in cooperation with IBDE in Tirana. High level forums which engage my country with other partners, offer added value, providing the right environment to discuss progress on political and economic reforms, and to share in the experiences of other countries that have successfully integrated in the EU. In addition, this Forum will further promote and hopefully increase British interest for investment in Albania. Over the last two decades, Albania has undergone a tremendous political, institutional, and socio-economic transformation. The Euro-Atlantic integration process has been the driving force behind several institutional and structural reforms that have contributed to the ongoing democratisation of Albania, and naturally EU membership remains our priority. Albania’s economic growth rate has been one of the highest in Southeast Europe (SEE) since 2000, reaching an average of 6% per year with a peak of 8% in 2008. Without a doubt, the global financial crisis and the recent sovereign debt crisis in the Eurozone have had a direct impact on the growth rate of the Albanian economy and the volume of trade relations (including FDI) with our main trading partner, the EU single market and beyond. That said, the Albanian economy has managed to sustain a stable macroeconomic and financial environment - in contrast to other countries in Europe. Albania’s economy has continued to grow even during these turbulent years, whilst average inflation has been under 3%. Furthermore, neo-liberal polices implemented since 2005 by my government - aimed at the consolidation of an efficient, pro-business fiscal regime, together with a floating exchange rate regime for the Lek - have equipped the Albanian economy with the right automatic stabilisers and environment to handle both negative and positive forces from foreign markets, and, as a consequence, have increased the immunity of our www.ibde.org
economy against the impact of the global and regional crises. Despite this context of financial crisis, it is encouraging that Albanian exports for 2011 grew by 20% compared with the previous year. We are all aware of the power of ICT (Information and Communication Technology) to spur growth and development; my country is fully committed to provide the right infrastructure and incentives to develop ICT in Albania. Addressing the challenges resulting from the openness of markets, economic orientation towards services, urbanisation, structural changes, and unemployment are the priority for Prime Minister Berisha’s government, which has already made important strides in these and other areas. EU integration is obviously the main strategic objective for the Albanian government and the Albanian people. The implementation of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement in general and the Free Trade Agreement and the Single Market in particular, necessitate the fulfilment of a series of specific European standards in all areas of our political and economic system. We believe that this liberalisation policy, with its objectives of: expanding and increasing trade volume through the elimination of trade barriers for Albanian products as well as increasing the volume of exports and diversification of export products through quality assurance and standards, will serve to strengthen the integration process of Albania into the European Union. So far the EU economic criteria have been met. This great achievement is also attributable to the neo-liberal agenda this government has pursued since 2005, including: improving business environment and supporting SMEs development; the introduction of ‘onestop shops’ for business registration and permits; egovernment; increasing labour flexibility; ICT policies; increasing access to credit with special supportive schemes, and lastly vocational training. Also we have successfully negotiated important free trade agreements such as CEFTA, EFTA, MTL (with Turkey), and the recent PanEuroMed. All in all, Abania is committed to becoming a very open, competitive emerging economy. IBDE – Integrating World Markets