Major strategic privatizations besides being the headline of economic news this year have certainly attracted the interest of academia and scholars and the lectures of many foreign experts. A collection of lectures and keynote addresses delivered at the October conference entitled “Challenges faced by local businesses in participating in the privatization process of the strategic sectors: Albanian case compared to the Southeast European experience,” has been published by the Albanian Socio-Economic Think-Tank (ASET), which was also the host of the conference.
The publication contains gathered information about the Albanian privatization process and other transition economies. ASET head Fatmir Memaj explains that “Researchers from the participating countries introduced their findings which were supported with theoretical consideration, experiences from developed economies and in particular examples of corporate of the strategic sector laid out the platform for debate. An evaluation of the progress and the efficiency of the privatization process were done emphasizing what has been done properly and what could/should have been done better. Local businesses are very little involved in the privatization process of the strategic sectors. One of the main objectives was to build bridges between local business and the privatization process so investments from local businesses into the strategic sectors are increased.”
The publication is a valuable tool in comparing issues raised in Serbia, Kosovo, Slovenia with those in Albania as well as in learning important details on the ongoing privatization of important companies such as ARMO or rationale for the process in the case of AlbTelekom.
ASET
ASET is an NGO founded in 1999 through the initiative of a group of experienced researchers. ASET is a new source of providing expertise on projects and programs designed to socio-economic policies, awareness, dissemination and education of their targeted groups. The focus of ASET is addressing acute problems encountered in the course of development during transition, with a particular attention on economic progress and social welfare.
