News

FIAA President Dr. Alvensleben and Ms. Jazoj, participated in a video conference meeting with the Shell Albania Country Team on the Topic “FIAA Manifest and External Perspective on Foreign Investment in Albania”. Through this meeting it was presented the FIAA-s role in Albania, its structure and composition, along with the main actions and interventions in support of the Business Membership.

The Chairman, Dr. Alvensleben highlighted some key points on the current business climate, as well as mentioned some critical issues where Albanian government and other political Players should focus. Foreign Investors Association strongly appeal that the investment climate in the country remains a key element to get improved, rule of law, legal certainty and tax clarity remain serious challenges, in particular to foreign investors, Dr. Alvensleben stated.

Further to the issuance of the Ministry of Finance of the new legal obligation born in the framework of the implementation of Law no. 112/2020 “On Registering of Beneficiary Owners”, with deadline 31st of March 2021 to be applied from business, FIAA jointly with other Chambers and Business Organizations sent a Letter to the Minister of Finance asking for an extension of the deadline declaration of the beneficiary owners from 31st of March 2021 to 30th of June, 2021.

The Minister in a prompt reaction agreed to approve the required extension of the deadline until June 30th, 2021 and issued a new Normative Act approving the deadline extension and giving all of us the serenity and the necessary time to prepare the required documents.

Tirana Economic Forum III, where FIAA for the third consecutive year is a Local Partner, is a business event that took place on March 12th, 2021, organized in the Digital platform due to the pandemic.

Τhe Tirana Economic Forum over the past years has developed into a high-level meeting of the most influential Albanian and international political, corporate, and intellectual leaders, addressing pressing challenges currently facing Albania and the Region.

FIAA jointly with other Chambers and Business Organizations in Albania have discussed and prepared an official request to the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Denaj, asking for an extension of the deadline for declaring the data of the beneficiary owners from 31^st of March 2021 to 30^th of June, 2021.

The Joint Action of Business Organizations through this letter conveys to the Minister the concern over the new obligations arising in the framework of the implementation of Law no. 112/2020 “On the Registering of Beneficiary Owners”.

In the framework of FIAA cooperation with the IMF on monitoring and supporting Albanian business climate, in early March it was organized a meeting with IMF experts from Washington. In this meeting FIAA was represented by its Chairman, Dr. Constantin von Alvensleben, the Country Director of Deloitte Albania Mr. Maksim Caslli and the Executive Director of FIAA Ms. Marinela Jazoj.

The main topics discussed in the meeting were related to the current business environment, tax system and necessary reforms in Albania, the pandemic impact, as well as the continuity of the weakness of the Euro currency in the country. This meeting came also as a follow up of the FIAA Manifest points that were presented earlier to the Albanian leaders and the attention they should give.

In the ambit of targeted industrial talks with members, FIAA held an interesting meeting with representatives from the manufacturing industry that remains a key evolving industry in the country, as this industry is boosting exports and fostering economic growth.

The meeting held on February 11^th was very fruitful as it brought more insights from the perspective of this industry, sharing the experiences during the pandemic, discussing the key challenges that the industry is dealing with and hearing recommendations on how to further support this important industry!

The Independent Assessment Team (IEG) at the World Bank organized a meeting to assess the impact of the project on Developing Competitiveness Policies. The team discussed with the groups that contributed to the implementation of the project (government representatives, international partners, civil society, etc.), getting their opinion on achievement of the project objectives, what worked and what could work with well  otherwise, to draw conclusions and recommendations that might help preparing similar future projects.

FIAA strongly believes that the improvement of the Business Climate in Albania remains fundamental.

As Albania has entered in the electoral period and the political Parties have prepared their economic programs, FIAA strongly believe that these Parties must give focus to the business climate signals and alerts.

In this ambit, at the initiative of the Board of Directors of FIAA and in close consultation with its Committees, FIAA has prepared a Manifest which addresses the Challenges for bringing Albania’s economy forward in the next four years.

FIAA is convinced that these challenges remain crucial to the improvement of the business climate and is appealing for the attention of the main Political Leaders and not only. FIAA believes that the need to stimulate growth, to attract foreign investors and fit for EU accession is more than urgent.

For more details download here FIAA MANIFEST

In the framework of the communications that FIAA keeps with Diplomatic Bodies in Albania, early this year FIAA’s President Dr. Alvensleben and Executive Director Ms. Jazoj have meet with two Diplomats in Albania, respectively H.E Mr. MITSUYUKI, Ambassador of Japan to Albania and H.E Mr. GENDLER, Ambassador of Israel to Albania.

The main purpose of the meetings was exchanging views on the business climate, impacts of the pandemic and current business and political situation in Albania, as well as opportunities for strengthening cooperation.

FIAA shall continue meetings with other diplomats in the coming months and assist potential foreign investors interested on the Albanian market.

The Open Government Partnership (OGP) aims to improve governance through government–civil society collaboration to develop reforms that promote transparency, public accountability and civic participation. From July 2020 until now, the Albanian government has worked with public institutions and members of civil society organizations (CSOs) during 14 stakeholder consultations to draft a set of ten reform commitments for inclusion in Albania’s 2020-2022 OGP Action Plan. All citizens & civil society organizations have been invited to provide feedback on the draft.

For more information, please follow the link:  https://www.konsultimipublik.gov.al/Konsultime/Detaje/318