“May I tell you that it is in our own interests that our promise that the countries in the Western Balkans have a European perspective — that we realise this perspective, because that concerns our credibility,” Merkel said. “I can tell you, nothing will be artificially delayed. There won’t be any difficulties constructed … I think it is widely recognised that Albania is taking big steps forward,” Merkel said at a news conference alongside Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama.
During her visit to Tirana, the German Chancellor took part in the 8th German-Albanian Business Conference together with Rainer Baake, Secretary of State in the Ministry of Economy and Energy; Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama; Minister of Economic Development, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Arben Ahmetaj; and Genti Beqiri, Executive Director of the Albanian Investment Development Agency, as well as business representatives from both countries.
Prime Minister Rama emphasised that cooperation between Albanian and German businesses is bringing investment, profits and a new performance workers culture in a free market economy.
Minister Ahmetaj presented an overview of the performance of the Albanian economy, in the context of the its economic model. The Minister assured the German investors that the Albanian government is committed to assisting in every step of their investment, providing legal guarantees and elimination of bureaucratic procedures.
Hans-Jürgen Müller, President of the German-Albanian Economic Society (DAW) in Berlin, stressed that the policy objectives of the Albanian government will create new opportunities for German companies interested in doing business in the country. The condition for this would be a reliable environment with clear rules.
“We have big opportunities to achieve even better results in economic cooperation,” said Merkel. “For Albania, it is important to establish the legal conditions because investors must have confidence in the laws. We support Albania in this direction, we talked about reforms in the justice system. Albania has the opportunity to utilise the experience of Europe, especially that of corruption,” Merkel concluded.
The event took place on July 8th, 2015, at the Tirana Bussines Park and was organised in cooperation with leading business organisations from the German business community and the support of the German and Albanian governments.
Source: AIDA (photo: courtesy of AIDA)
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