The President of the American Chamber, Enio Jaço, spoke about the business climate and the prospects for American investments in Albania in an interview with journalist Neritan Sejamini on the show “Me Pak Fhalha”.

President Jaço said that “the Albanian Chamber of Commerce will not be able to make an attempt to do such a thing, in relation to the reality of a year ago. makes Albania interesting also as a player in the geopolitical aspect.

Neritan Seja: The American Chamber of Commerce is the largest chamber of commerce in Albania, it has 222 members, with a turnover of 3.1 billion dollars, which is significant for a chamber of commerce, almost 1/5 of the Albanian economy. It should be the direction of such a Chamber…

Enio Jaço: The American Chamber has an important weight. A year ago, we celebrated our 20th anniversary. The Chamber has had a wide reach and the more good it always is the joint businesses of the Chamber. We have multinational companies that are part of the Chamber, companies that want to establish links with companies in America. We are pleased that the Chamber.

Neritan Sejamini: Who can become a member of the Chamber, any type of enterprise? Or an enterprise that must have a kind of connection with the USA?

Enio Jaço: There must be a connection with the USA but at the same time there are members who do not have a connection but who aspire to build commercial ties with America. We have our criteria, not everyone can become a member of the Chamber.

Neritan Sejamini: You as the American Chamber have been very active in the mature thinking of your members. Can you give an overview of the common sentiment and the economy in reality?

Enio Jaço: Last year we did not have some developments, which have both us and the members’ sentiment. First of all, we had an American investor who came to invest in Rinas airport. There was an incident, a negative outcome, he turned back and is probably now in court. This event attracted everyone because it was faced with the helplessness of an investor, even an American investor, to make an investment here.

The second event that attracted us was Albania’s fall in the ranking of the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report. It is a report that ranks countries, with the same methodology and the decline was serious but also. Even before we were last, we did not receive a new report and the most recent is a last place in terms of competitiveness.

And the third, and most importantly, was the American Chamber of Commerce Index, which measures the awareness of the links with the business climate. It was a very big thing with 5%, because big ones are common from 0 to 1%.

Neritan Sejamini: What does the index measure?

Enio Jaço: The index measures how businesses think how good the business climate is in Albania. It is a measurement from 0 to 100, above 50 is in positive positive, below 50 is in a problematic area. It ranged from 43, 44 or 45%, now it has dropped to 38%. There is a serious issue, so we do not often discuss the business climate and discuss its aspects.

Neritan Sejamini: Starting from last year’s index, the internal political climate is what has had a major deterioration and seems to be a factor in hindering business, which are monopolies and unfair competition, then there is no shortage of staff for other products, the performance of the economy and the business climate. All this scares foreign business.

Enio Jaço: Even their business. All these things create an unfavorable climate, a climate of uncertainty. It is interesting that for the first time the political climate has emerged as the first issue of the members of the Chamber. Monopoly and competition is a matter of choice, it has to do with establishing the rules of the game. In many areas we have several monopolies, it is good not to commit crime. When you have a monopoly it is very difficult to enter that sector and compete. It has to do with the rules of the game, which must be crime transparent and equal for everyone, where businesses can focus on developing products and other products. rubber. So, a fair climate where they can compete similarly to others.

Neritan Sejamini: If we talk about the notification of the country’s personnel? What is it about?

Enio Jaço: It is about all the links of the workforce. We have a higher focus on the working class, which requires much more advanced. technology different

often, from year to year, this must be accompanied by new knowledge, often businesses make these investments but often have to turn to the labor market.

We are talking about technology, about higher education, we are not talking about Artificial Intelligence, although advanced knowledge is required in the digital world. But businesses in all fields seek to advance, we have a high number of businesses that have the opportunity to grow and do not have the opportunity to find qualified staff that can compete outside Albania. When you ask businesses, they say that this is one of the main problems.

Neritan Sejamini: How much does the economy and its structure affect the business climate..

Enio Jaço: The faster the economic growth, the more opportunities businesses have to grow. If we make a comparison with the Western Balkans, Albania’s GDP income is among the lowest. This is one of the shortcomings of the Albanian economy. On the other hand, it is the structure of the Albanian economy, and how competitive this structure is. What does it offer for foreign investors? What does it offer for domestic investors? Is $1 million more valuable to invest in Albania? Or is it more valuable to invest in North Macedonia? These are very sharp questions for businesses.

Neritan Sejamini: It seems like Albania has lost this kind of competition in the region?

Enio Jaço: We have to be realistic. In the last 20-30 years, Albania has had great economic development, but at the same time the position we have at the moment is not favorable. One of the main shortcomings that we see but that global investors also see is the World Bank’s “Doing Business” report.

At the same time, personally I think but many people also think that Albania’s potential is very large, it is perhaps even greater than we think and perceive in our daily work.

Neritan Sejamini: Why do you say this?

Enio Jano: First of all, we have a favorable geographical position, one of the most favorable in the Western Balkans. We are a country, a strong ally with the US, we aspire to become part of the European Union, a NATO country, a country with high security, with a young population, investors who come find an extremely friendly terrain, a young workforce, ready and willing to acquire new knowledge. It seems like a country, almost a dream to invest in.

Neritan Sejamini: So, what nature and God have given us, we are advanced, what is missing is what we have created ourselves…

Enio Jaço: We need to improve the rules. The business climate is complex, it has to do with laws, with incentives that must be offered to investors, transparent and equal rules, so that there is no favoritism.

Personally, I think that in the next 10 years, Albania has a golden opportunity to advance and become a competitor, from the last and penultimate country in the Western Balkans ranking, to become the first or second country in the region.

Neritan Sejamini: What would be some of the reforms….

Enio Jaço: The American Chamber has done a great job in the past 9 months regarding the business climate, not just to raise awareness among the parties because we have passed that phase, but to make specific recommendations, which we will publish after the elections and have already shared with the political forces.

First of all, we think that Albania needs a clear platform, an investment strategy. This is not just about foreign investment but also domestic investment. It is about a strategy on the sectors where investment can be made, incentives, infrastructure that the central government or municipalities plan to build.

Second, it is very important to fight corruption, we will present a specific anti-corruption program. Public consultations, a personal problem of the Chamber, because an important part of the work we do is what we call advocacy, lobbying, so we make various proposals and recommendations for improving the business climate or improving the laws with which businesses work. Public consultation is important not only for businesses but also for citizens. We have the laws, but they do not function properly, they are not implemented properly and we think that consultation is an integral part of the inclusion of all social groups in decision-making. There are also other important sectors, such as the digital economy or Albanian exports, the modernization of the tax system and the qualification of the workforce.

Neritan Sejamini: You said that we need to lobby but we also need to put pressure on political forces to reflect these concerns…

Enio Jaco: I have to partially agree with you, in the sense that we have not noticed reflection, we have been waiting and we have had an expectation for the sake of truth, to see specific programs for the economic reform that should be undertaken. The programs have not been deeply detailed. However, I am optimistic. O

I find optimism in the awareness that has occurred in recent years regarding the improvement of the business climate. When we talk to leaders of various political forces, we find agreement regarding the importance of economic reform and the desire to carry out this reform. I want to be optimistic in this sense.

Neritan Sejamini: We are talking about American investments in Albania, which have been few in recent years. In addition to objective obstacles such as the small market, other factors have influenced to keep these investments away.

Enio Jaço: I am dividing the answer into two parts. First, the small market, it is true that it does not attract investments, especially large investments. But we must position ourselves in finding a favorable position in the Western Balkans. The Western Balkans is becoming an interesting region for foreign investors, it has an orientation towards Europe and as such it is considered that the political risk will decrease and consequently investments in these countries will be interesting.

At this moment, an important position needs to be established in the Balkans and I believe that Albania has this opportunity. All countries are small, but Albania is one of the largest countries, second only to Serbia, it is one of the countries that has significant influence, it could have even greater influence. Four out of the six countries of the Western Balkans speak Albanian. We could have a more integrated economy than what we have today. The way investors think about it is that they want to settle in one of the countries of the Western Balkans in order to cover the entire region. This country could be Albania. So, it is very important to do this reform and think more broadly than the fact that Albania is a small country. This is one obstacle that needs to be addressed by improving competitiveness.

I often hear different colleagues saying why foreign investors are not coming. Those who deal with investments treat this issue like a magnet. You have to become like a magnet in order to attract, you can’t expect someone to come to Albania just because the weather is nice and the people are friendly and speak English. We have to create this magnet and if we never create it, foreign investors will not come.

Neritan Sejamini: There have been two positive developments recently, an agreement with ExxonMobile to explore gas production in Vlora and another agreement for the Skavica pipeline with Behtel. How likely are these two agreements to materialize in the coming years?

Enio Jaço: These are very important agreements and there is a real possibility, real interests already established at the agreement level. The US embassy in Albania and the Albanian government have a lot of credit for these agreements, because both have worked very well with each other to enable these investments. They are both very large investments but they are in the early stages.

Albania’s capacities will be tested continuously, perhaps over the next few years, in terms of making these investments a reality. The potential is very large because they are both investments in energy and it is possible for Albania to become a regional energy power and could become an interesting player in a movement that has to do with energy supplies from Russia or other countries from the East. This makes Albania interesting as a player in the geopolitical aspect as well.

Neritan Sejamini: And a question on a personal aspect, you have worked in the banking sector in the United States of America, in the banking sector here, you have experience in developing countries, you have been in Afghanistan with development projects, you have knowledge in the business sector from a different perspective, that of AmCham. Personally from developed countries, in underdeveloped countries how do you see Albania, in the next decade from an economic point of view.

Enio Jaço: Very complex. I myself am a cautious optimist. Albania has an extraordinary potential. So far we have had economic progress but that has taken us to the advanced level of developing countries, at this moment we need to move to another category.

We were in the third category now we need to move to the second category. To get to the second category we need to change some things, such as the rules of the game, the structure in which we work. I think we have all the conditions to do it. Political will is very important. Awareness is also very important, technical skills too. We have allies who can help us and it will be interesting to see in the last four or five years where Albania will end up.