Italian investors explore new markets in Tirana

TIRANA, April 3 – Presenting the latest interventions in the legislative field in support of the energy, waste water treatment and urban waste sectors, as well as promoting collaboration between Italian enterprises and their Albanian counterparts in view of a public-private partnership, were the aims of the seminar held this week by the Italian Institute for Foreign Trade (ICE) in Tirana. Taking part in the seminar, entitled ”Legislative framework, opportunities and supplies in the energy, waste water treatment and urban waste sectors in Albania”, were representatives from Italian, Albanian and international institutions active in the sectors, as well as ones from the World Bank and the Albanian Investment Development Agency (AIDA). B2B meetings also fostered the insertion and development of Italian enterprises on the local market. The Albanian government, with the support of donor countries, has over the past decade set in motion wide-ranging reform of the energy sector, which provides for the modernisation of the legislative framework, the creation of an Energy Regulatory Agency (ERE), tariff reform and the reorganisation of the Albanian Electricity Company (KESH), in order to make the sector more effective and to set in motion the integration process into the European energy market. Albania has enormous hydroelectric potential of which only 35% has been used so far. Installed hydro-energy capacity is around 1500 MW, while total capacity is estimated at around 3000 MW, thereby offering good possibilities for the building of further hydroelectric stations.
Waste water treatment plants are being built or designed in several cities, while over the next four years activities for better treatment and the depositing of waste in a number of districts and urban centres of the country are planned.
In a meeting with Prime Minister Sali Berisha, Giancarlo Innocenzi Botti the President of InvItalia, Italy’s national Agency for Inward Investment Promotion and Enterprise Development, expressed the willingness of several Italian businesses to consider extension of their activities and investments in Albania and more concretely in the field of renewable energy and production of medical apparatuses.
According to Mr. Botti, investments in the field of energy consist of agri-culture and recycling of products for production of energy from ethanol. Another investment opportunity is even production of energy and recycling of the urban waste according to principle “Waste in Energy”. Italy is Albania’s top trade partner with 50 percent of total exports and 30 percent of imports. More than 80 percent of footwear and garment products manufactured in Albania, which are the country’s main export, go to Italy. According to Italy’s Confindustria lobby group, some 300 Italian companies operate in Albania, mainly operating footwear and garment manufacturing.