In July 12th, the Ministry of Justice started consultation on the draft law “On personal data protection”. In this meeting, FIAA was represented by Vodafone Albania. As a follow up, FIAA has submitted to the Ministry of Justice a set of comments collected from various industries under FIAA affected by this draft law.
Read MoreFIAA presents Findings of Business Environment Survey 2021-2022
BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT SURVEY FINDINGS
ALBANIA 2021-2022
Judicial System, Transparency, Corruption, Bureaucracy & Unfair Competition remain the main obstacles of the Doing Business in Albania
July 13th: Today, FIAA presented the findings of the Business Environment Survey (BES 2021-2022), which was conducted during spring 2022 within FIAA members and investors network in the country.
Main respondents of this Survey were important foreign businesses in the country in the sectors of financial services, energy and oil, telecommunications, consulting, trade etc. The Survey findings were presented at the presence of the Minister of Finance and Economy, Mrs. Delina Ibrahimaj, along with other distinguished guests and diplomatic representatives in Albania.
Read MoreMr. Alessandro D’Oria, President of FIAA and CEO at Intesa Sanpaolo Bank Albania
FIAA: You have been recently elected as President of the Foreign Investors Association of Albania, what is your perspective on the Leadership model and experience that you will share with Foreign Investors Community in Albania?
Mr. D’Oria: First of all I would like to express again my gratitude to all the members who voted me as President of FIAA.
FIAA’s mission is to support the success of its members by promoting a healthy business environment in the country, and to provide high-quality business information and resources. This is a challenging mission in a fast-developing country in terms of legislation and infrastructure and I am happy and excited to have taken up such an important role in the structure of FIAA.
Read MoreOngoing Meetings on Business recommendations coming from the White Book
Following up the engagement of the Ministry of Finance and Economy to intervene for the improvement of the business climate in the country, during the months of April, May and June 2022 have been organized several technical working meetings with business community experts and professionals treating more than 80 concerns covering a wide range of laws on: Tax, Hydrocarbons and Fiscal Regime, Fiscalization, Concessions, Renewable Energy, Pension Funds Law, Banking Regulatory Framework, etc.
Read MoreMr. Enrico Donati, Executive Chairman at Assist Digital
FIAA: Assist Digital achieved its 5th anniversary in the Albanian market. Could you tell us a bit more about the business of your company and its experience in Albania?
Mr. Donati: First of all, we are very happy to have been working in Albania and we are still following a growth path of our business in this country. We like the country and we like the people we are working with. Assist Digital is providing Customer Experience services to global companies at a pan-European level. This means that we provide a wide range of services related to the relationship between brands and their customers. We provide consulting services, CRM and marketing automating services, UX/UI design services, as well as multilingual customer operation services. Since the beginning of our story, we have been leveraging a lot on digital technologies and ICT technologies blending Artificial Intelligence with Human Intelligence, with the aim to fully satisfy the end users and at the same time our clients. This strategy has been very successful so far giving our company the opportunity to engage with very important clients.
Read MoreNational Conference on the “Common Challenges and new pathways in the fight against corruption: digitalization as an anticorruption tool”
FIAA’s commitment and efforts to improving the doing business environment in Albania, is the main pillar of its work. During the National Conference on Anticorruption, hold in Tirana in June 13th– 15th, FIAA’s President Mr. Alessandro D’Oria, during his word in the session: Business associations’ role in promoting good governance and fighting corruption spoke on behalf of FIAA by sharing experience and insights in fighting corruption. Mr. D’Oria highlighted the importance of the fight against corruption along with further needed reforms and digitalization, as fundamental to improve business environment in the country.
Country Private Sector Diagnostic Report Launching
The International Finance Corporation (IFC) together with the World Bank (WB) have prepared the Country Private Sector Diagnostics (CPSD) Report. The sector assessments included in the CPSD for Albania, conducted with significant input from teams across the World Bank Group and from external partners including governments, provides valuable information on the challenges and opportunities in three sectors: tourism, agribusiness and auto-parts industry and policy options to better leverage the contribution of the private sector in achieving Albania’s development objectives.
For more information please visit: https://pressroom.ifc.org/all/pages/PressDetail.aspx?ID=27037
Read MoreInvestment Council puts forward Recommendations for the Improvement of the Public Consultation Process
The Albania Investment Council (IC) held a plenary meeting to discuss on the private sector’s concerns and recommendations for the improvement of the public consultation process. The meeting was chaired by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Mrs Delina Ibrahimaj, and by several business organizations ‘representatives.
In this meeting, FIAA was represented by the Executive Director Ms Marinela Jazoj and by the Newest Board Member Mr Sokol Elmazaj.
Read MoreIMF Staff Concludes a Staff Visit to Albania
At the conclusion of the IMF mission in Albania conducted recently, the Team Leader, Ms. Sun issued the following statement:
“The sharp increase in food and energy prices as well as rising external funding costs following the war in Ukraine present the third major shock hitting the Albanian economy in recent years. Growth in 2022 is projected at about 3 percent, supported by tourism and construction but moderated by the impact of rising prices. Inflation has increased to considerably above the 3 percent target of the central bank and is becoming broad-based. It is expected to remain at a high level in the coming months—driven by import prices—before falling back to the target towards early 2024, reflecting the impact of monetary policy tightening.
Read MoreFIAA ongoing working discussions on the White Book recommendations
FIAA’s Team of Experts met on May 13th, 2022 to discuss on the progress of the ongoing working discussions on the White Book Chapters’ recommendations. The meeting was organized at the request of the Coordinator from the Office of the Minister of Finances and Economy, Ms. Erblina Shehu, in charge of the consultations process!
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