TIRANA, July 31 /ATA/ Prime Minister Edi Rama said Albania was entering a new phase of industrial development, with more vehicles for the military, firefighting services and emergency response units set to be produced domestically.
Speaking at a ceremony marking the handover of the first 40 tactical vehicles built in Albania to NATO standards by Timak Defence for the Armed Forces, Rama said the company was also manufacturing 14 new fire engines.
Rama said Albania was moving towards greater domestic production of defence and emergency vehicles, citing Timak’s manufacturing of 14 new fire engines. He said the country aimed to build a modern firefighting fleet matching NATO and EU standards, rather than relying on repeated procurement tenders.
Rama said the same approach would be applied to ambulances, with the aim of providing modern vehicles produced domestically and supported by a local maintenance system.
He stressed that, unlike in the past when vehicle maintenance was carried out abroad, Albania now has an integrated facility built to NATO standards, allowing the maintenance of new fleets to be conducted inside the country.
Rama said the same domestic production and maintenance model would be applied to ambulances and other state fleets, ensuring faster access to modern vehicles and reducing reliance on foreign maintenance services. He added that the creation of local NATO-standard maintenance facilities would also generate revenue for the state-owned company KAYO.
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