Governor Fullani promotes book at Oxford University

TIRANA, March 13 – “Growth in Albania and South East Europe: The Way Ahead,” a book by Bank of Albania governor has been recently promoted by the South East European Studies at Oxford. This collection of papers by Ardian Fullani, the central bank governor, explores the challenges facing Albania’s economy in the wake of the global and euro area crises. It is based on presentations made by Governor Fullani at regional seminars in Oxford and Tirana, which were organised in the context of a co-operation agreement between the Bank of Albania and South East European Studies at Oxford (SEESOX).
“This is a striking volume in several respects. First, it presents the range of economic issues facing Albanian policymakers in a unified perspective, drawing on a wide range of national and international sources. Second, it reaches back to the Communist era to explore where the process of economic transformation of the past two decades misfired, in that it failed to address adequately the deep-rooted problems of the past. Third, it seeks to give greater precision to such terms as ‘enhancing competitiveness’ or ‘changing the growth model’, asking what specifically these mean in an Albanian and South East European context. Finally, it is a book that places Albania squarely in the region of South East Europe, exploring the importance of shared issues and challenges – and the key role of regional co-operation – in the years ahead,” say Othon Anastasakis and Max Watson of the St Antony’s College, Oxford in the preface to the book.
Building on much research and reflection that has been conducted at the Bank of Albania concerning priorities for the economy, the originality of this book is to highlight how these themes mesh with a wider regional agenda – to which the crisis has imparted added urgency. In all these respects, the volume bears the very distinctive hallmark and vision of Ardian Fullani.