The artworks were curated by cultural specialist Stefan Arseni, who acquired several of the pieces as gifts.

The exhibition drew a diverse crowd of artists, associates, and foreign tourists currently visiting the city. For these travelers, the showcase offers an extra layer of cultural discovery, beautifully complementing Gjirokastër’s historic monuments and landmarks.

“The collection features a diverse range of techniques, spanning both painting and sculpture. I have nurtured my passion by gathering pieces from various regions; the selection is not limited to artists from Gjirokastra, but also includes creators from across Albania and Kosovo,” Arseni told the media.

Painter Edi Kojani noted, ‘This is an exceptionally rich collection that spans a wide range of genres, including painting and sculpture, and features various techniques. We see oil paintings, watercolors, drawings, graphic art, and pastels here.

Stefan Arseni began collecting these artworks prior to the 1990s. Having spent his entire career in cultural and artistic institutions, he has held key leadership positions, including director of the Tepelena Palace of Culture, the Gjirokastra Library, and the “Zihni Sako” Theater, as well as culture inspector for the Executive Committee. Despite officially retiring nearly three decades ago, Arseni remains deeply active in revitalizing the cultural and artistic life of Gjirokastra.

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Reporting to parliament on progress in EU accession talks, Yzeiraj said reforms under the EU’s taxation and customs chapters focused on aligning the country’s legislation with the bloc’s rules, upgrading technical systems and strengthening administrative capacity.

He said the government’s 2024-2027 Medium-Term Revenue Strategy sought to improve tax administration, increase integrity across revenue institutions and boost fiscal sustainability through greater efficiency.

“Our objective is for Albania’s revenue-to-GDP ratio to exceed 29% in 2026, driven by improved revenue collection efficiency, not by tax increases,” Yzeiraj said.

He added that the government was also aligning public-private partnership rules with EU standards and implementing measures to support the agricultural sector, including a sovereign guarantee scheme covering 70% of eligible agricultural loans and a 10% reimbursement scheme for farmers developed in consultation with the European Commission.

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Attending the opening event of the exhibition at the venues of the National Library were Minister of Economy, Culture and Innovation Blendi Gonxhja, Director of the National Library Pirro Misha, Acting Mayor of Tirana Anuela Ristani, diplomats, scholars, historians and personalities of the relevant fields.

The participants had the opportunity to have a taste of the materials put on display, all part of the collections of National Library.

Gonxhja described the exhibition as, “An impressive journey through the rich fund of the National Library and highlighted more than 700 rare works dating to XIV up to XIX century – books, manuscripts, maps and engravings”.

“This exhibition makes a worthy contribution to the preservation and promotion of our documentary heritage. It is an invitation to reflect on Albania’s place in the history of the Mediterranean and for finding our links with the East, West and ourselves”, said Gonxhja.

The exhibition consists of books, manuscripts, maps and engravings dating to the period 1300-1900.

The exhibition will stay open until July 18. /k.s/j.p/p.s./

General Directorate of Road Transport Services reported that during the year 2024 there were counted 305 verified vehicles, of which 217 meet the criteria for the “RETRO” status.

“The relevant procedure has been completed for 209 vehicles and 96 motorcycles and these are equipped with “RETRO” license plates in the period January – December 2024,” said the directorate.

The vehicles in question, which are actually even formally identified under the “RETRO” logo, are owned by various collectors, who with their passion have managed to preserve over the years, but also decades, such unique cars of their kind.

The “RETRO” status means their official registration by institutions as a vehicle out of circulation and preserved for collection purposes and also carrying historical values.

Part of the present-day “RETRO” vehicles are enthusiasts, restorers, collectors of mopeds and early vehicles, which also arouse people’s curiosity. /j.p/p.s./

Tax administration figures show that the revenue collections increased by 33.1% compared to the first nine months of 2022.

Tax administration collected over 7.5 billion lek in September 2024, recording an increase by 28.6% compared to the same period of 2023.

The total public expenditures were estimated at 347.5 billion lek, accounting for 92.3% of the planned spending in the first seven months, recording a 6.3% increase or by around 20.5 billion lek in expenditures compared to the same period of the previous year.

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The Tax Administration reported that during 2023, it collected 308 billion ALL in budget revenue.

Referring to the data, the tax revenues increased by 19% compared to 2022 and 33% more compared to 2021.

According to General Tax Administration, another achievement is the record increase of revenues from the social insurance contributions, by 18% more than in 2022.

“For the first time in the last 30 years, the payment from the state budget funds to cover the deficit of the pension scheme turned out to be the lowest, with only 0.9% of the GDP, while simultaneously coping with the increase in pensions, another record indicator of the Tax Administration performance”, said the General Tax Administration.

Klosi wrote in the social media that the Tax Administration has managed to achieve record increase revenues with minimal controls in the country, thanks to a cooperation (non-punitive) approach with the taxpayer in order to raise awareness for self-fulfillment and further improvement of the business climate in Albania./p.s./

The rich colors of the clothing elements, once made by hand, are complemented by the magic of jewelry, which best expresses the age, family and social position of the woman in society.

An avid collector since childhood, Velo has managed to take care to keep a valuable heirloom that can be handed over to future generations as a way of commemorating important events and people in his own life and the history of his family and society. This collection of xhubleta dresses has its own special value, as pride in the ancestors and their creations./p.s./

The Agency shared pictures in the social media from the work moments at the collection point.

“Thanks to this financing, there was realized the creation of large storage spaces, high-capacity refrigerated rooms for product storage, standardization and preparation for export. This company has secured connections with about 500 farmers who bring their own products and export them to EU countries and the USA”, – said the agency.

“The impact of the investments in the collection points goes to a large number of farmers, as thanks to the cooperation between them, there is increased the production yield, standards and exports of Albanian products”, – said further the agency.

“Fraeno Agriculture” is a collection point focused on fruits and vegetables and its activity is concentrated on the import-export sector. /p.s./

The General Directorate of Customs said that the figure represent a new record set by the country’s customs administration as plan on collection of customs duties last year was met in July only, at the peak of the tourism season.

Customs administration collected 1.4 billion lek more in revenues compared to May 2022, whereas the administration collected 3.1 billion lek more as compared to the previous month of April.

Customs duties from the excise goods rose significantly in May, with the official data showing that quantity of oil increased by 8 000 tons compared to May 2022, and tobacco by 10 tons.

According to General Directorate of Customs, the customs duties increased despite the negative effect by around 800 million lek due to the exchange rate changes.

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At the “Albania Piemonte” collection point, manager Eva Zylyftari provides details of this investment.

She said that this point was established in March 2014 and specializes in the collection, processing and storage of fruits and vegetables in refrigerated rooms.

“Thanks to the support of the IPARD program, there have been built suitable warehouses so that the products are presented properly in the international market. By concluding contracts with small farmers, they completely follow the production cycle and have full trace of the product to reach European standards”, said Zylyftari.

She also said that the next step is to be able to do the processing, maximizing the profit of our products.

Eva said that her love for the land pushes her to expand this enterprise even more./p.s./