TIRANA, Feb. 22 – Prime Minister Edi Rama has appealed for western investment to Albania and the whole Western Balkans that would integrate the region and make it a more competitive market.
Addressing an EBRD Western Balkans investment summit in London this week, Rama said the increase in regional cooperation was key for sustainable growth in each economy.
“Our economies are too small to compete with each other or alone within a global landscape. The only option for us to have economic growth leading to sustainable employment and welfare is to adapt to a more competitive model,” said Rama.
The Prime Ministers of Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Kosovo and Bosnia and Herzegovina met with investors to discuss the development of transport links, the potential for renewable energy and the privatization agenda in the region in the second Western Balkans Summit at the EBRD, one of the region’s largest investors.
“Regional integration such as road corridors, gas pipelines as well as the expansion of the production sector are on top of our joint agenda,” said Rama.
“Projects such as the Blue Corridor, the Trans Adriatic Pipeline and the Ionian-Adriatic Pipeline have a great geostrategic importance, most importantly because they bring our countries closer,” he added.
Introducing reforms in the Albanian economy, Rama urged investors to make up their mind on Albania.
“Those who wait until everything is okay will regret of not having invested today. In an environment still not perfect, there are much more opportunities than you will find in a perfect environment,” he said.
EBRD president Sir Suma Chakrabarti described the summit as another opportunity to showcase the region’s strengthens and invite investors all over the world in joining to realize its potential.
“There is a reform momentum across the region – from Montenegro advancing in EU approximation, to Serbia implementing ambitious programme of ”Ž privatisation and restructuring of its public companies, to Albania continuing comprehensive programme of modernisation, to Bosnia and Herzegovina which has started implementing the Reform Agenda,” said the EBRD president.
The European Union confirmed in the summit its intention to provide a €12 million grant to support construction of the first electricity interconnector between Albania and Macedonia and the introduction of grid efficiency improvements to the infrastructure of MEPSO, the electricity transmission system operator of Macedonia.
“Building this transmission line will improve the security of supply and the stability of the two countries’ power systems. It will also help to develop a regional electricity market in which production and transmission capacity can be managed throughout the Western Balkans, rather than national basis,” said Christian Danielsson, the Director General for Enlargement at the European Commission.
Since the 2014 Western Balkans conference in Berlin, regional countries aspiring to join the EU have stepped up cooperation efforts by unveiling a series of joint road and railway and energy infrastructure projects that will ease exchanges and increase the potential to attract foreign investment.
