“The government’s goal is to have value added industries for the country’s economy, employment and technology. The direct goal is employment and export,” said Economy Minister Ahmetaj
TIRANA, April 29 – The Albanian government says it has identified three special economic zones and intends to hold a tender next June on the first 500 hectare industrial park just outside Durres which will be offered for a symbolic 1 Euro to strategic investors.
Introducing the project this week, Economy Minister Arben Ahmetaj described the Spitalla special economic zone which is situated 6 km from the country’s biggest port of Durres and some 30 km from the Tirana airport as an opportunity to attract strategic investors through a series of tax exemptions which target turning it into one of the most competitive in the region.
The Albanian government has also identified free economic zones in the southern coastal city of Vlora and the Koplik town in northern Albania near the Montenegro border.
Speaking about potential investors in the technical and economic development areas, Ahmetaj said the government’s goal is to have value added industries for the country’s economy, employment and technology. “The direct goal is employment and export. We are offering maximum contractual security to investors so that they can take their time to plan in the long-term and it is up to them whether they plan to stay for 5, 10 or 99 years,” he said.
In the Spitalla special economic zone, government targets bringing technological, industrial companies with a big number of employees.
In its new draft law on technological and economic development zones, the Albanian government plans to offer a series of tax reductions to foreign investors, including exemption from the 50 percent profit tax on the first five years of their activity, exemption from the 20 percent VAT on imports and a series of other tax exemptions and deductable expenses.
Investors will also be offered a one-stop shop on licences and have a customs and fiscal unit available at the special economic zone where they operate.
The Economy Ministry says some nine special economic zones had been previously identified but failed to attract interest because of failure to enforce contracts, lack of incentives to developers, problems with land ownership titles and inadequate infrastructure and inefficient promotional campaigns.
With the attraction of foreign direct investment high on government’s agenda, Albania has recently launched an Investment Council serving as a linking bridge between the business community and the government and a catalyst helping to create the right business environment for investments. The launch of the Investment Council comes at a time when government has undertaken legal action, offering simplified procedures for investments in strategic sectors.
Foreign investors will be offered simplified and accelerated procedures in the next three years for strategic investments in energy, mining, transport, telecommunication, infrastructure, urban waste, tourism, agriculture and fishing and special economic zones, according to a draft law government has submitted to Parliament.
Strategic investors in Albania’s tourism sector will also be offered state-owned property for a symbolic 1 Euro under 99-year concession contracts to develop tourist resorts.
Bordered by Montenegro, Kosovo, Macedonia and Greece, and only 72 km from Italy, Albania is situated at a historical crossroads between Eastern, Western and Southern Europe.
Albania’s access to foreign markets is also growing through initiatives designed to improve connectivity to the main infrastructure networks of Europe. These initiatives include regional road infrastructure projects like the Blue Corridor (Adriatic-Ionian highway), which stretches along the entire Albanian coastline and links the Western Balkans and Central Europe, as well as expanding capacities at the ports of Durrës, Shëngjin, Vlora and Saranda.
The country will also benefit from its position as a transit country for the Trans Adriatic Pipeline from Turkey to Italy, and a role in the most significant new energy corridor supplying Europe, says government in its teda.gov.al special economic zone website.
