MILAN, Oct. 19 – Albanian officials have promoted the country at the international Expo fair in Milan this week during the designated national day of Albania on Monday.
“After difficult years of transition, thanks to reforms, Albania is emerging from the crisis and beginning to grow. We are a hospitable country with an open economy, essential to bring stability to the region,” Economy Minister Arben Ahmetaj said at the event.
The country introduced itself at the cluster of Bio Mediterranean exhibits with the theme “Our food, our history, our mystery.”
The minister said that Albania was quickly growing economic ties with Germany, Austria, Slovenia, the Middle East and East Asia.
He added the agricultural sector registered a 20 percent increase of exports in recent months.
“Although in Europe, we are a country still little known as a tourist destination,” said the minister, but he added that was changing, as Albania recorded a 70 percent increase of visitors – mostly from Europe and North America.
Ahmetaj said Tirana is only an hour’s flight away from Milan and is a good destination for investment and tourism.
The country has achieved economic growth of 2.8 percent this year, agriculture is being developed, exports have increased around 20 percent and there is a favorable financial climate.
Last year, he added 16,000 businesses were newly registered, with 1,000 of these being foreign owned and 450 being Italian-owned or Italian-Albanian joint ventures.
Italian Expo Commissioner General Bruno Antonio Pasquino mentioned “the close friendship between Italy and Albania, a friendly country that has traveled a path of reform and growth in recent years.”
He added relations with Albania “are a priority as is its path of gradual approach and integration with the European Union, also important for the stability and the peace” of the Balkans.
