World Bank urges faster reforms in Albania

TIRANA, July 3 – Piero Cipollone, the new Executive Director who represents Albania at the World Bank Board and Jane Armitage, Country Director and Regional Coordinator for South East Europe, visited Albania last week to discuss the Bank’s role in supporting the country’s reform agenda and to visit a number of World Bank financed projects and meet with beneficiaries.
Cipollone and Armitage met with Prime Minister Sali Berisha and several members of his cabinet, as well as representatives from the diplomatic community, civil society and media.
During the talks they focused on the new Programmatic Development Policy Loan for governance and competitiveness which is being prepared to support an ambitious program of reforms in several key areas, such as property rights, water management, business environment and higher education, over the next three years. Improved security of property rights has been identified as a critical issue for growth, reducing informality, boosting foreign investment, and progress towards European integration. They also discussed on the importance of realizing Albania’s renewable energy potential, completing reforms in the electricity sector and enhancing the payment discipline among various actors was discussed.
“I am glad to see that once a contaminated area – today the project site in Porto Romano is unrecognizable after five years of hard work. My appreciation goes to all agencies involved in realizing the cleanup project under international supervision”, said Cipollone. “We hope that the experience gained during this operation will be used to remediate other such sites in the country.”
Albania joined the World Bank in 1991. World Bank commitments to the country to date total approximately US$1.4 billion for 69 projects. Currently there are 14 operations under implementation totaling US$263 million in IDA credits and IBRD loans; US$180 million in co-financing loans, credits, and grants; and US$35 million of recipient-executed Trust Funds – amounting to a consolidated financial package of around US$480 million. Six new operations are under preparation.