Socialist Party MP, former Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Milva Ekonomi spoke in an interview with ATA about the role and creation of the first Albanian Development Bank and the focus of support.

“The Albanian government and the entire society are committed to see the flag of Albania in 2030 in the European Union. For this objective, the government is working to fulfill the obligations and criteria that the integration process requires in several directions and processes,” said Ekonomi.

Ekonomi stated that the Development Bank will increase competitiveness in the banking sector by offering low-interest loans.

“There are 11 second-tier banks in Albania, but the Development Bank has 51% of its assets in government shares and will press the banking market by offering low-interest loans, facilitating SMEs to have more access to financing and to develop”, said Ekonomi.

Ekonomi stated that the Central Bank recently launched the new financing program of 25 billion lekë loans for SMEs and agriculture and is pioneering with creation of the Albanian Development Bank.

Ekonomi said that, together with Albanian producers, we can further improve the quality of Albanian agriculture and we can bring Albania one step closer to EU integration.

Precisely, she continued, this financing instrument (the program for SME and agriculture) will serve as a guide on how this Development Bank is conceived that will support the approximation of Albanian production with the open European market. /r.e//a.f/p.s./

According to the Report on Fiscal Indicators published by the Albania’s Finance Ministry, excise tax revenue increased to 2.5 billion ALL or 9.4% more than the same period las year.

“Revenues – are estimated at 528 million ALL or 1.9% more than the Excise Plan for six-month period of 2024,” Finance Ministry said.

An estimated 63.6 billion ALL is expected to be collected from the excise tax for 2024 – 5.2 billion ALL more than in 2023.

Excise tax revenue forecast is related – to the increase in the excise duties due to indexation and the implementation of the increase scheme for tobacco; imports; domestic production; goods consumption such as, fuels, cigarettes, alcoholic beverages, wine, beer, etc.

As well as –  due to the international tourism growth; strengthening of the fight against informality through excise control, exemptions reduction and tax refunds. //a.i/

In the session “Digital transformation in the Western Balkan region” of the ministerial meeting, Ekonomi shared Albania’s experience on the digital revolution, the challenges the country faced and the projections for the digital agenda of “Albania 2030”.

“During the discussions with counterparts from Slovenia, North Macedonia, Croatia, Kosovo, Montenegro, Serbia and Bosnia Herzegovina, we exchanged best practices on the inclusion of digitization in policies and regulations, investments in digital infrastructure to ensure access and reliability for citizens , increasing digital skills among citizens, creating strong data protection mechanisms, monitoring the effectiveness and implementing tools for citizen feedback, promoting the culture of innovation and co-creation by supporting technological initiatives”, said Ekonomi./p.s./

“2022 marked the end of implementation of the strategic framework of public administration reform (2015-2022), a document that guides the work of the institutions. Currently, the work has begun to write the new strategy, which includes the years 2023-2030, a new ambitious document, which will set milestones for reforming the institutions of the administration further”, said Ekonomi.

While taking the floor in the Assembly of Albania, for the annual report of the activity of the Department of Public Administration during the year 2022, Ekonomi emphasized that 793 excellent students have been recruited so far by public administration institutions.

According to her, today the recruitment process is digitized at every stage and this has significantly improved the management of human resources.

Regarding the filling of vacancies in the civil service, she informed that 98% of the annual admission plan has been implemented and in 78% of cases the vacancies have been filled in relation to the announced positions.

According to her, for the year 2022, there are 1070 vacant positions, 576 competition procedures and 830 filled positions. In terms of mobility in the civil service, there are 38% of positions filled with parallel movements.

Also, within the framework of opening of the negotiations, Ekonomi underlined the commitment to make bilateral presentations in Brussels, for each of the main principles of public administration.

In response to the opposition’s accusations of using the public administration in elections by pressuring them through the “Activist” application, Ekonomi emphasized that this application can be used by any person and that it has nothing to do with the control of public administration employees.

“The “Activist” has no connection with the system that manages DAP. As long as we have 75 thousand people who have downloaded it, it means that it is successful. You can also be a DP member and access the application”, said Ekonomi./p.s./

About 1,000,000 citizens benefited from the government’s Big Package of 8 billion lekë, approved by the end of December.

Minister of State for Services and Standards Milva Ekonomi said that the Big Package has made this winter, which has been difficult for all of Europe due to war inflation, easier for the Albanians.

In the city of Kruja, Ekonomi said that almost all pensioners have withdrawn the bonus. /gj.m/p.s./

Albanian State Minister for the Service Standards Milva Ekonomi addressed the forum via a video link, underlining that the blue and green energy remain an important priority for the Albanian government.

According to her, the developments taking place in Albania focus on development of the blue economy also thanks to the country’s geographical position and its conditions.

Minister Ekonomi appreciated the Forum organizers and underlined that the project, initiated by the Albanian government and supported by the international donors, will help efforts to develop an integrated model of the blue economy in Albania.

The Forum aims to illustrate regional, national and European policies related to the development of the blue and green economy, outline priorities for the sustainable development of the economy, and explore the complexities involved in gaining access to financing instruments fostering innovative approaches, and to address the issues related to the training and development of new skills for the blue and green economy.

The Forum focuses on strategies for the sustainable development of the blue and green economy in Programme area and on the potential deriving from the “Blue and Green Growth” for the regional and national territory, also looking at successful experiences at European level.

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Ekonomi said that, “At the Price Monitoring and Transparency Board, we agreed on the businessmen being very careful about the profit margin.”

“Some of them expressed their readiness to work with zero profit margin, but just to cover operational costs so that not to make it more difficult for Albanian families,” said Ekonomi.

Ekonomi stressed that, “The Albanian government has come to the aid of families throughout the country by making available to families in need and those with low incomes a payment to cover all the costs of increasing prices of the basic basket products”.

“We shall provide 3 thousand Lekë to the pensioners per month for 3 months. We should not forget to compensate the urban transport ticket, as well as the increase of the minimum salary that goes to 32 thousand Lekë starting from April 1, while the tax is zero “, said Ekonomi. /m.m//a.a/p.s./

In her remarks, Minister Ekonomi said that, I held a very constructive conversation with the Austrian Ambassador Christian Steiner to increase cooperation between our two countries.

“We remain determined to advance projects with the help of a friendly country like Austria, having considerable experience in public services, in setting standards and measuring their efficiency,” Minister Ekonomi added. //a.i/

Minister Ekonomi said that, “along with the Italian Ambassador, Fabrizio Bucci we have already established a continuous communication to further deepen the cooperation between our two countries”.

In her remarks, Minister Ekonomi considered the economic cooperation between the two countries as a valuable asset in improving the standards required by the European Union.

“The Italian experience will be a valuable asset in our journey towards improving the services provided to citizens and the standards required by EU,” Minister Ekonomi said.

Cooperation relations between Albania and Italy are being extended to many sectors of the economy and both countries are committed to further intensifying them in the future. //a.i/

The Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Milva Ekonomi posted Friday images showing apricot cultivation that is in great demand in the international market.

“In Albania, this fruit grows in the areas of Lushnje, Berat and Permet, as well as in Vlora, Delvine or other regions across the country, where a total of 270,000 apricot trees added this year with a total of production of around 5200 metric tonnes,” Ekonomi said.

Albania’s fruit exports were valued at over 2 billion lek in first seven months of 2021, recording an increase by 22 % compared to the same period of 2020 and 36 % compared to the same period of 2019.

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