Albania, China step up financial cooperation

TIRANA, Jan. 22 – Albania and China have stepped up efforts to increase bilateral financial cooperation. On January 14, 2013, Governor Zhou Xiaochuan met with Ardian Fullani, Governor of the Bank of Albania, who was visiting Beijing. They exchanged views on the economic situation in Europe and the Balkans and on how to promote bilateral currency and financial cooperation between China and Albania, says China’s central bank.
Stressing the importance of cooperation between the two central banks, governor Fullani described the participation of Chinese financial institutions in the Albanian banking system as very important. He also called for the establishment of support lines with currency liquidity through swap transactions between Albania’s and China’s central banks. Governor Zhou Xiaochuan pledged China will increase its presence of investments in the South East Europe region.
Bank of Albania governor Ardian Fullani visited China where he attended the China-Europe Economists Symposium on “China-Europe economy: future challenges and opportunities.”
Addressing the symposium, Fullani said “While China has remained largely unaffected, Europe has suffered significantly. The crisis exposed fundamental structural and institutional weaknesses in the Eurozone and the EU. In fact, the subsequent cross-border deleveraging and de-risking has been one of the main crisis propagation channels that has affected eastern European countries, Albania included,” said Fullani.
Back in Sept. 2011 when Zhou Xiaochuan visited Albania the Chinese governor said trade exchanges between the two countries should increase and financing of infrastructural projects in Albania intensify. During recent years China has become one of Albania’s main trade partners, especially for Albanian exports. INSTAT data show China was the third main destination for Albanian exports in 2010, accounting for 5.5 percent of total exports. Trade volumes with China were valued at 28.7 billion lek in 2010 having experienced a 7 percent increase. Exports to China, represented mainly by mineral products reached 8.8 billion lek rising by 81 percent compared to 2009.