Improving Business Environment in Albania

The Project “Improving Business Environment in Albania” is financed by the SlovakAid – Official Development Assistance of the Slovak Republic and will be implemented by Business Alliance of Slovakia in cooperation with Foreign Investors Association of Albania-FIAA.

Duration of this project is 18 months to be finalized in May 2016.

The goal of the project is to improve the business environment as a key element for raising the Albanian economic growth and reducing its poverty.

The implementation will be done through transfer of know-how and expert knowledge from Slovakia, including elaboration of comparative analysis of business environment barriers, sharing of details on the most important reforms implemented in recent years in Slovakia, and establishment of effective tools for systematic monitoring and analyzing of the business environment quality for Albania.

In order to achieve higher pro-reform drive, we propose strengthening the analytical capacities of our Albanian partner institute by:

1)     Elaboration of comparative analysis of business environment in Albania and Slovakia using data from the most significant international comparisons (like Doing Business by the World Bank, or Competitiveness Yearbook by IMD, and others), identification of competitive advantages and disadvantages for both Albania and Slovakia, and formulation of recommendations to improve business environment quality.

2)     Elaboration of 4 in-depth sector analyses focused on following specific topics:

  1. fighting shadow economy  
  2. fighting corruption
  3. major structural reforms implemented in Slovakia
  4. barriers to cross border trade between Albania and Slovakia

3)     Implementation of quarterly monitoring of changes in business environment in Albania by the Business Environment Index, i.e. regular structured surveys among entrepreneurs to identify major trends and business barriers and to monitor their development in time to set the mirror for policymakers.

4)     Implementation of quarterly impact evaluation of economic and social laws and regulations passed by parliament (regular expert assessment) influencing conditions for doing business.

5)     Improving transparency in business environment by implementation of ethical code for business.

All main project activities were successfully implemented and promoted in Slovakia and their results had measurable impacts on creation of laws and regulation and on the overall development of business environment in Slovakia.

The objective is to achieve the same results in Albania, by the Implementation of these tools to create more effective pressure on Albanian government, to change legislation towards higher economic growth and for an employment-friendly environment.