TIRANA, Oct. 20 – One of China’s biggest construction companies, the Power Construction Corporation of China, is considering road and agriculture infrastructure investments in Albania as part of China’s increased presence in Albania where it is emerging as key trading partner and top investor.
Officials of state-owned PowerChina say they are considering financing and building the Berat by-pass in southern Albania and the 64-km Thumane-Vore-Rrogozhine road segment in central Albania.
“In addition to the Berat bypass, we are also committing to building the Thumane-Vore-Rrogozhine road,” Yan Zhiyong, the chairman of ChinaPower told Albanian Parliament Speaker Ilir Meta during an official visit he paid to China this week.
Parliament Speaker Meta said “Albania welcomes investments not only in infrastructure but also agriculture and tourism where opportunities are bigger.”
Albania and China also signed a cooperation deal in water resources administration which Agriculture Minister Edmond Panariti said will pave the way to investment in drainage and irrigation investments.
“I met representatives of Power China to discuss some investment initiatives on main irrigation canals, dams and embankments which Albania desperately needs. Cooperation with specialized Chinese companies in this respect would be welcome,” Panariti told China Radio International (CRI) in the local Albanian service.
Albanian olive oil producers at a Hong Kong trade fair were honored with the gold medal, and could soon see their exports expand to China.
“The first contracts have been signed on the testing of Albanian olive oil and wine on the Chinese market. I met powerful Chinese investors who expressed interest to invest in olive groves and olive processing plants,” said Panariti.
Parliament Speaker Meta described relations with China as very important for the Albanian economy where Chinese investments have recently increased with the acquisition of the country’s sole international airport and the largest oil producer.
“We see cooperation with China as complementary and not exclusionary with the European integration process where Albania is involved, the same way as many important EU members have a powerful and active partnership with China,” Meta told CRI in an interview.
“Cooperation with China is continuing with tangible results. China is becoming an increasingly important trading partner for Albania. In the meantime, Chinese investments in Albania are also growing in different and important sectors, such as the Tirana airport, the energy, oil, copper, telecommunication fields,” he added.
A Chinese consortium led by China Everbright Limited has recently acquired Albania’s sole international airport while Geo-Jade Petroleum Corporation has taken over Canada-based Bankers Petroleum, the country’s biggest oil producer for C$575 million (€392 mln).
The new deals are on track to increase China’s presence as a foreign investor in Albania from almost zero to almost half a billion euros making China among the country’s top foreign investors at a time when the economic superpower is already emerging as the country’s second largest trading partner.
