TIRANA, May 17 – With few days to go before the Albanian and Kosovo governments hold their third joint government meeting, senior authorities from both countries have reconfirmed their willingness to further increase trade exchanges and lift barriers.
In a visit to Kosovo ahead of the June 3 joint government meeting in Prishtina, Finance Minister Arben Ahmetaj and his Kosovo counterpart Avdullah Hoti unveiled two important deals on the unification of markets and the facilitation of trading procedures are on track to be signed.
“We have agreed that the Durres port will offer unique procedures for Kosovo exporters, meaning this will be the only stop for Kosovo businesses,” said a joint statement by the two ministers.
The two neighbouring countries say they have also intensified efforts for a joint customs office and the mutual recognition of certificates in order to further increase trade exchanges which although considerably boosted after the construction of the so-called Highway of Nation in 2009 still remain below potential.
Kosovo has emerged as Albania’s second most important trading partner for exports with 8.6 percent of the total but imports from the neighboring country are five times lower accounting for only 1 percent of Albania’s total imports.
Albania’s main exports to Kosovo include “minerals, fuels, electricity” and “construction materials and metals” while imports are mainly focused on metals and food, beverages and tobacco.
Albania’s trade exchanges with Kosovo increased to 26.4 billion lek (€187.6 million) in 2015 up from about 10 billion lek (€72 million) in 2009 when Albania completed the Durres-Kukes highway but Kosovo had not built its part of the Highway of Nation yet.
As the Tirana-Prishtina interconnection line is on track to finish by mid-2016, Albania and Kosovo have also stepped up efforts to integrate their energy markets into a joint power exchange. The project would considerably diversify energy resources for both Kosovo which relies on lignite-fired power plants and Albania’s hydro-dependent electricity system.
Back in 2013, several disputes over tariffs and barriers considerably affected trade exchanges between the two countries and for the first time since 2009, Albania’s exports to Kosovo registered negative growth rates.
Ongoing trade disputes between Albania and Kosovo over potatoes, cement, milk, flower, wine and pharmaceutical products have considerably curbed trade exchanges between the two neighboring countries in the past few years.
Albania and Kosovo held their first joint government meeting in Prizren in January 2014. The second meeting was held one year later in Tirana in March 2015.
Tourists from landlocked Kosovo account for almost half of foreign tourists to Albania in what is known as ‘patriotic tourism.’ Tourism experts say Kosovo’s expected visa free travel in the Schengen area after the green light by the European Commission could slightly reduce the number of Kosovo visitors to Albania, the same as happened with Albanians in late 2010 after visas were lifted for travel to 26 European countries.
