TIRANA, June 28 /ATA/ Trade exchanges with Croatia are estimated at almost 4 billion lekë during the first 5 months of the current year.
According to data published by the Institute of Statistics (INSTAT) during the period January-May 2021, exports amounted to 1.1 billion lekë from 759 million lekë in 2020, while imports went to 2.8 billion lekë from 2.1 billion lekë in the previous year.
Albania exports to Croatia aluminium, shoes, processed fish, vegetables, while it imports mainly oil, fish products, electric transformers and chocolates.
Areas of interest for cooperation are energy, tourism, mechanical engineering, electrical and electronics, pharmaceuticals, food, textiles and footwear, and especially construction.
Croatia is one of the most important countries in the Balkan region, especially because it is the axis that connects Tirana with Europe via land.
Albania and Croatia are part of several strategic projects for the region, such as the Adriatic-Ionian Corridor, the so-called Blue Corridor, the IAP (Ionian-Adriatic) pipeline, as well as increased cooperation in the field of tourism and other areas of common interest.
Albania also presents great investment opportunities, as the fiscal burden on foreign investors is among the lowest in the region. The government has set up an agency (AIDA), which assists every foreign investor from the first steps.
According to the National Registration Centre, there is a growing number of Croatian companies investing or having a physical presence in Albania, in areas such as industry, tourist village construction, marketing and trade, consulting, information technology. /a.a/p.s./
