New highway boosts Albania, Kosovo trade exchanges

TIRANA, Jan. 25 – Albanian and Kosovo trade exchanges registered a significant increase in 2010 when the Durres-Kukes highway linking the two countries in the shortest possible way was made fully operational.
Albanian exports to Kosovo registered a 30 percent increase in 2010, leaving the neighbouring country the second most important destination after Italy which accounts for more than 50 percent of total Albanian exports with textile and footwear products topping the list. INSTAT’s latest data show exports to Kosvo accounted for 10 billion lek, or 6 percent of the total exports in January-December 2010, up from 7.1 billion lek during the whole of 2009.
Meanwhile, Albanian imports from Kosovo also registered a significant 22 percent increase climbing to 3.8 billion lek up from 2.97 billion lek in 2009.
Expressing the Albanian government’s commitment to remove all trade barriers with Kosovo, former Economy Minister Ilir Meta said last December that the completion of the Durres-Kukes highway had cut both “travel distance and economic costs.”
Kosovo European Integration Minister Besim Beqaj said the potential to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries was bigger. “A bigger stimulus is needed so that the economies of both countries strengthen their cooperation, become economically integrated and overcome minor barriers.”
Kosovo businesses had previously complained about prolonged customs procedures delaying the free movement of goods, calling for their simplification and setting up joint customs control teams.
The Durres Port Authority has also recently opened its first representation office in Kosovo capital, Prishtina, in an effort to increase trade exchanges with the neighbouring country following the construction of the new highway tunnel cutting distance between the two countries to 2.5 hours. Ragip Grainca, the representative of the Durres Port Authority in Prishtina is optimistic more than half of Kosovo imports and exports will be handled in Durres port by this year.
Albania will also start building a new interconnection line this year linking the country to neighbouring Kosovo to integrate and strengthen energy systems. The KfW-funded project expected to begin in the first months of 2011 comes after implementation of the 400 kw Tirana-Podgorica interconnection line, linking Albania to Macedonia, which is in its final phase.