TIRANA, Dec 29 /ATA/ The Albanian government will expand employment programs in the coming years with the aim of promoting employment and entrepreneurship.
This is what the Minister of Finance and Economy, Delina Ibrahimaj, said at the activity for the promotion of self-employment program, which is one of the programs implemented by the National Employment and Skills Agency.
This one-year program will support startups for unemployed job seekers who have a business idea. The program started in 2020 in four regions and in 2021 was launched in the whole country.
For the year 2022, applications for the self-employment program were opened in November and 413 unemployed workers applied during one month. The process continued with the entrepreneurship training course of 365 applicants and then with the submission of business plans by 280 applicants.
After the evaluation process, the number of applicants selected as winners is 160, who will be supported with grants worth up to 500,000 ALL for each successfully developed business plan that has been approved within the selection process
In her remarks, Minister Ibrahimaj said that the activity in itself constitutes a summary of all the policies that the government has devised over the years regarding the promotion of employment, small business and family economies.
The high number of applicants for this program, which has doubled compared to the previous year, is a testimony to its success.
“There are 4 employment promotion programs, which will be expanded. Next year we will launch the youth guarantee program, with the support of the European Union, which will focus on employment promotion programs for all those young men and women who need to be trained or employed,” said Ibrahimaj.
The minister emphasized the fact that the government will continue to support the opening of startups and small businesses as a whole, support which is proven by their exemption from any tax.
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