CIPE Regional Office Holds Roundtable in Albania

On December 10, 2010 CIPE Regional Office based in Romania organized the first of a series of three roundtables to be held as part of the current project aimed at strengthening business support organizations in Albania. The roundtables are intended to build cohesion within the business community for future collective action that will help improve the business environment and the dialogue with public officials.

The event was organized in cooperation with CIPE’s former partner, the Albanian Center for Economic Research (ACER) and facilitated by Mr. Zef Preci, ACER Executive Director. CIPE Regional Office Deputy Director Carmen Stanila delivered opening remarks.
The goal of the roundtable was to provide a venue for open-forum discussions on the topic of the challenges and opportunities faced by the Albanian private sector in the context of the global crisis. The discussions focused on the following topics:

•    The evolution and dynamics of Albanian companies in 2009 – 2010;
•    Challenges and opportunities/incentives in 2009 – 2010 and their impact on the companies’ competitiveness;
•    How can Albanian companies and associations address these issues?

The audience comprised seventeen representatives of business associations, chambers of commerce and think tanks from Tirana, that have taken part in the diagnostic assessment of Albanian business support organizations conducted by CIPE Regional Office in September 2010. Representatives of other associations, and the academia, as well as free-lance business consultants were also in attendance.

The discussions focused on challenges related to the international economic crisis and several obstacles that pertain to the local legal and regulatory framework. In addition, the participants discussed about the lack of access to credit and the slow reimbursement of VAT to companies as major obstacles faced by the private sector in Albania.



During the discussions, the participants also proposed some solutions to address the above-mentioned issues, such as:
•    diversifying the exports markets and target also the domestic market, as a way to make up for the loss of foreign markets hit by the crisis;
•    reducing the number of contacts between tax officials and companies/individuals in order to eliminate the potential for corruption;
•    organizing consultative groups comprising private sector representatives that would revise specific pieces of legislation and provide feedback, etc.

Following this roundtable, CIPE Regional Office will organize two more roundtables and a training seminar on association management and public policy advocacy for Albanian business support organizations in early 2011.

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