Investment Council Meeting on Digitalisation of Local Public Services for Business and Access to the EU Single Market

The Albania Investment Council (IC) held a meeting under the leadership of Minister of Economy and Innovation, Ms Delina Ibrahimaj, with the special participation of the Minister of State for Local Government, Mr Ervin Demo. Discussions focused on private sector challenges in the digitalisation of local public services and business access to the European Single Market. The meeting was attended by almost all IC members, representatives from the Ministry of Finance, the National Agency for Information Society (AKSHI), the Municipality of Tirana and other municipalities, as well as observers from the public and private sectors and international development partners.

Within the framework of the country’s EU integration processes, Minister Ibrahimaj emphasised the need for sustained communication with the business community, particularly over the next two years, and called for active private sector engagement, especially in consultations on new laws affecting the economy and business. Following a presentation of business challenges, Minister Demo outlined the Government of Albania’s vision and its renewed approach to administrative-territorial reform and the digitalisation of municipal services, aiming to provide accessible services to citizens and businesses, simplify procedures, and improve the quality and speed of service delivery.

Representatives of the business community, including AmCham, Tirana Chamber of Commerce, the Greek Chamber, the Tourism Association, and KASH, emphasised the importance of mutual respect in public consultations, inter-institutional cooperation, and clear communication with business stakeholders. They highlighted the need to optimise the benefits of digitalisation, strengthen the professionalism of institutional staff in service re-engineering processes, review certain local taxes in line with business needs, and enhance the role of municipalities in local development, particularly in the tourism and agro-processing sectors.
International partners underlined the importance of continuous information-sharing and consultations on laws and regulations, as well as the need to prepare businesses for EU accession and the national reform agenda.

At the conclusion of the meeting, it was decided to approve the IC recommendations and to set the main work priorities for 2026, with a focus on supporting the national EU integration agenda.

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The full materials from this meeting, including the findings of a survey on the digitalisation of local government services with 166 companies and another survey on the investment climate with 188 companies, will be published in the coming weeks in our dedicated section.