September 2015
“Fighting the informality is the only way to prevent the further increase of the taxes”
Foreign Investors Association of Albania with a considerable presence of 15 years has always been an active Partner of the Government and International Institutions of the country.
FIAA stands among the most important players which in cooperation with the Government enables the common goal of making Albania a better environment to invest and operate.
Read MoreDuring September 2015 the Ministry of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship organized the second roundtable on Technical and Economic Development Areas (TEDA), headed by Minister Ahmetaj and with the participation of representatives from the diplomatic body in Tirana, representatives of chambers of commerce and international partners.
During this roundtable were presented the new legal framework on the TEDA, the bidding procedure for TEDA Spitalla and the criteria and deadlines for the evaluation of bids.
Read MoreThe new law on strategic investments foresees that Strategic investors with a special status will be considered Businesses of foreign businessmen whose investment in Albania will be of EUR 1ml to EUR 50 ml worth.
The new law provides several facilities for strategic investors related to bureaucracies and other aspects during the implementation of their investment in Albania.
Read MoreThe New Law on Tourism was discussed with the stakeholders and approved in late July 2015 by the Parliament. The new law on tourism provides a range of changes for the tourism sector, aiming to transform it into one of the most important economy sectors in the upcoming years.
According to the new law, a foreign company chosen by the Ministry of Tourism will evaluate, classify and standardize businesses operating in the tourism sector in Albania, by issuing certificates of evaluation for each business (such as restaurants, hotels, guesthouses, etc). Another novelty of this law is the vast support and facilities provided to strategic foreign investors in this sector.
Read MoreVarious stakeholders in the Agroprocessing, Tourism and BPO Sectors in Albania have been called by FIAA to be part of discussions on Albanian Potentials for Investments in these sectors.
These meetings are conducted on the framework of the project on Attracting Investments in Albania which aims the identification of the main potentials which are considered as attractive for new/more investments in the country.
Read MoreOn July 27th 2015, the Albanian Parliament approved Law no. 77/2015 ” On amendments and additions to Law no . 125/2013 “On Concessions and Public Private Partnerships” , changed.
Under this law, public private partnership can be accomplished in one of the following forms:
– As public works concession;
– As public service concession;
– As public works contract and
– As public service contract.
Read MoreFIAA has recently celebrated the 15th Anniversary of its creation. Foreign Business Community members and the Highest Representatives of the Albanian Government were gathered in a special place and a friendly atmosphere. On this occasion, the Members who have trusted FIAA for 15 years, were given special Awards in the presence of the Prime Minister of Albania.
The awarded businesses who have accompanied FIAA throughout its Journey are Albanian American Enterprise Fund, Coca Cola Bottling Shqiperia, Fushe Kruje Cement Factory, Vodafone Albania, Deloitte Albania, KPMG Albania, Intesa Sanpaolo Bank, Tirana Bank, Procredit Bank and Boga Associates.
Special thanks go to the Sponsors of the 15th Anniversary Event: First Investment Bank, Bankers Petroleum Albania and INTERSIG- Vienna Insurance Group.
Thank you for your continuous trust!
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Being in an era of different undertaken economic reforms, during March –April 2015, FIAA conducted the “Business Environment” survey in cooperation with members of the association as well as other partners (such as Foreign Embassies and Chambers of Commerce) consisting in 91 successful face to face Interviews. The main focus was on gathering feedback and opinions on the business environment in Albania. Survey results will help FIAA identify the problems and challenges faced by investors, which should be addressed for government policies in order to improve the business environment in the country.
Read More“The best path that the government has to pursue is to align this legislation to the EU Acquis”.
FIAA: Shall we start it with a few words about Titan?
Mr. Frantzis: Titan is a multiregional cement producer. We are vertically integrated in cement aggregates and red mix. We say multiregional because we are not multinational in the strict sense having presence in every country. We are present here in Southeast Europe and we are the biggest cement producer in Southeast Europe having presence in evry country like, Greece, Bulgaria, FYROM, Kosovo, Serbia, Montenegro and Albania. We are also present in Turkey, Egypt and the US where we have a large cooperation along the east coast. Also we have terminals in Italy, France and UK. We have revenues above 1.2 billion euro and we employ in total over 7000 employees. Back in 2010, we decided to invest in Antea building a green field plant here in Albania. This investment has been realised with the equity contribution of international financial corporation IFC and EBRD which they held at the time 40% of the equity and 60% Titan. The 200 million euro investment at the time was and I think it still is the biggest green field investment in Albania.
Read MoreINTPOW, a networking organization in Norway founded to promote cooperation between Norwegian and foreign players in the renewable energy industry in June 3rd made a business visit to Albania to get informed on the new business opportunities in the Renewable Energy.
Part of the agenda, was a Meeting with the Minister of Energy and Industry Mr. Gjiknuri and his Team.
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