Investment Council discusses priority actions for the improvement of the investment climate in 2022

Tirana, 31 January 2022 / Chaired by the Minister of Finance and Economy, Ms Delina Ibrahimaj, the Investment Council (IC) held an ad-hoc meeting to discuss the government’s intervention pillars for the improvement of the business climate in the country and decide on the 2022 IC agenda. The meeting was held in a hybrid format, and it was attended by all IC members and partners, including other representatives from the public and private sector and development agencies in the role of observer.

During her speech, Minister Ibrahimaj informed that during the last months, MFE has intensively worked on the prioritisation of business associations recommendations concerning investment’s climate improvements. While emphasising the pivotal importance of prior consultation with the business community as one of the priorities for the year 2022, Minister Brahimaj shared in advance a work calendar related to several areas of interventions and improvements. They include inter- alia by-laws and laws related to fiscalization, income tax, banking, labour and employment, e-commerce and other regulatory areas of improvements as earlier identified by IC and business associations and chambers of commerce. The work calendar was launched as an open invitation to the business community and stakeholders to get involved in the technical working group since the early stages of interventions.

During the open discussion session, the business representatives such as AmCham, FIAA, ATTSO, UCCIAL, Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Tirana, Diaspora Chamber of Commerce, Producers Associations, Albanian Agricultural Council, etc. considered the initiative as highly expected and appreciated,  while expressed their support to proactively assist with their expertise as per the relevant areas of intervention.

After this session, the Secretariat presented the voting results for the 2022 IC Agenda, which included the considerations of all IC members (2015-2021). The voting results showed that the IC members consider as priorities for discussion in the 2022 IC Agenda the topics related to the improvement of the quality and availability of skills, how Albania can become a more competitive destination in the Western Balkans, public consultation and transparency of the government acts and initiatives with the businesses community, current challenges faced by the private sector in terms of getting energy.

In conclusion of the meeting, Minister Delina Ibrahimaj informed that during February, several consultations will be organised between representatives of the MFE and business associations in line with priority areas to agree on the timing and finalisation of specific interventions.