“Sharing Lessons Learned and Disseminating Best Practice” – Conference about the Role and Impact of EBRD-Supported Investment Councils

London, Great Britain, 2-3 March 2017

Secretariat of Albania Investment Council attends the Conference of EBRD-supported Investment Councils in London on 2 – 3 March 2017. The objective of this conference was to present Key Achievements of 2016 of these Investment Councils, and the challenges for 2017, but also to discuss ways to strengthen the investment climate through effective public – private dialogue.  EBRD has created first Investment Councils in 2007 in countries of early transition such as Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Tajikistan and later in countries such as Moldavia, Albania and Georgia.

The 2-day Conference started with the plenary session “Strengthening the Investment Climate through Effective Public-Private Dialogue.” In this session, EBRD’s President, Sir Suma Chakrabarti underlined the importance of the Investment Council’s work and said: “Public-private dialogue can take various forms. However, in order to have a systemic impact, such dialogue needs an established, trusted platform. That platform should be a forum for regular meetings between the authorities and the business community, one at which businesses can air their concerns and the government can respond in a credible way.”

Invited to the opening plenary session was also Albania’s IC Chair, Minister of Economic Development, Tourism, Trade and Entrepreneurship, Ms Milva Ekonomi. In her word, Minister Ekonomi said that EBRD has played an important role in Albania, amongst other also with the support provided to the Secretariat of Albania Investment Council. Minister Ekonomi emphasised that the main challenges faced by the country are related to attracting foreign investments and the Investment Council, through the continuous communication with the business, has contributed to the improvement of the business climate. “Investment Council assists the government in the dialogue with the business, listens, analysis and recommends solutions to their problems. But on the other side also the government supports the work of the Investment Council by considering and addressing business concerns,” said Ms Ekonomi.

In the other sessions of the conference, it was discussed concretely on the key achievements of the Investment Councils in 2016 and priorities for 2017. Head of Albania IC Secretariat, Ms Diana Leka in her presentation about the IC work in Albania, inter alia, said that “Investment Council in Albania in continuous consultation with the business has recommended practical recommendations, affecting directly the relationship between the Government and the business. Among others, we may mention a considerate number of changes to the tax procedures amended lately, improvements in the communication and transparency with the business and proper implementation of the Law on Public Consultation.”