TIRANA, Sept. 29 – The Council of Europe Development Bank (CEB) is supporting the underdeveloped northern Albanian Alps area with a Euro 1 million grant to promote tourism and agriculture.
The Paris-based bank with an exclusively social mandate will provide technical assistance on infrastructure works and public services in the Albanian Alps area comprising 10 local government units in the Shkodra and Kukes regions in northern Albania.
The deal was approved this week by the parliamentary foreign affairs committee.
The area covered by the project has considerable potential on tourism development but suffers high unemployment rates, poor infrastructure and public services. Illegal logging and hunting remains widespread even in protected area and the local population has abandoned the remote areas for urban area or left abroad.
However, mountain tourism in the past few years has seen a sharp boost and many local houses have been turned into guesthouses accommodating tourists.
