PM Rama praised Turkish President for his visit to Albania, saying that both countries have agreed to further strengthen strategic partnership.

“I am really pleased to hold the second High-Level Cooperation Council meeting to confirm our commitment and determination to further boost the strategic nature of this cooperation. We also took stock of progress in implementing the previous agreements and the incredible potential of this relation,” PM Rama stated.

“Every time we meet, Turkish President rightly reiterates that the current level of Albania- Türkiye trade exchanges doesn’t properly reflect the true potential between the two countries. As he already stated, it is our ambition to double the annual trade to over 2 billion euros soon,” he said.

The government head noted that the number of Turkish visitors to Albania rose 85% in the last eight months.

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The Institute of Statistics recently published the report on foreign trade for the period January-June, according to which Turkey is ranked the third trading partner of Albania.

Trade exchanges with Turkey in the 6th month period of the current year have reached 54.5 billion ALL.

Referring to the data for the January-June period, Albanian exports to Turkey reached 2.1 billion ALL, from 2.3 billion ALL in the 6-month period of 2023, while imports for the 6-month period are estimated at 52.4 billion ALL.

The export products consist mainly of minerals and metals, aromatic and medicinal plants as well as fashion products.

Albania has a free trade agreement with Turkey, signed in 2006, and which entered into force in May 2008. Through this agreement, the two countries have opportunities to increase trade exchanges between them. /p.s./

Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Anila Denaj gave the news saying that trade exchanges for agricultural products with Kosovo for 2023 reached the value of 105.45 million euros.

“If compared to the year 2022, when they were in the amount of 84.11 million euros, this means an increase of 15%”, said Denaj.

These increasing numbers, according to the minister, “Confirm once again the growing close relations between the two countries, also in the agricultural sector”. /m.m/p.s./

The Director General of Albanian Archives, Ardit Bido, and the Head of Ukraine’s State Archival Service, Anatolii Khromov, on Wednesday signed an agreement on repatriation of the written materials on the activity of the Albanian Renaissance patriots in the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.

Speaking at a joint press conference after the signing ceremony, Bido highlighted that under the agreement the two archival services will cooperate by launching joint exhibitions, holding scientific and professional conferences and by publishing joint collections of archival documents.

Today’s agreement paves the way to the exchange of archival records shedding light on the role of Albanian diaspora in the city of Odessa during the National Renaissance Movement throughout the 19th and 20th century.

In his remarks, Bido noted that a legal framework is created under the accord to allow for experience and expertise sharing between the two institutions.

The bilateral agreement is driven by the aspiration for cooperation between the two archival institutions. The signatory parties are committed to hosting joint exhibitions on topics of mutual interest, participate in scientific and professional conferences and prepare joint collections of documents for publication.

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Tourism Minister took to the social media on Friday to post images showing her meeting with the Spanish Minister of Industry and Tourism Jordi Hereu, and the Secretary State for Tourism Rosana Morillo, with talks focusing on presentation of Albania’s tourism offer and potential.

“Amid the good synergy of successive meetings in Madrid, it was with pleasure that I met with the Minister of Industry and Tourism of Spain Jordi Hereu, and with the Secretary of State for Tourism Rosana Morillo to present fantastic offer of Albanian tourism that attracted 87,000 Spanish visitors last year, as well as opportunities for cooperation with a focus on exchanges in tourism as the best linking bridge between our countries,” Kumbaro said.

“We will soon meet at the 70th Meeting of the UNWTO Commission for Europe, with us being the hosts,” Tourism Minister said.

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According to the latest Foreign Trade Report by INSTAT, Albania’s exports to the EU member states accounted for 73.6% of the country’s total exchanges in the first three months of this year, whereas imports from the EU countries represent 50.9 % of the total.

Italy, China, Türkiye and Greece are the main trading partners, respectively accounting for 29.5%, 7.4%, and 6.8% of the total trade exchanges.

Albania’s exports significantly grew to Greece by 66.4%, North Macedonia by 47.8% and Kosovo by 2.5%.

However exports to Italy, Germany and China fell by 8.5%, 21.8% and 49 % respectively.

Albania’s exports were valued over 123 billion lek, up by 2.1% year-on-year in the first three months, whereas imports were valued 208 billion lek, registering a slight increase by 0.4% compared to the same period of the previous year.

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According to the latest Foreign Trade Report by the National Institute of Statistics (INSTAT), imports from North Macedonia rose by 200 million lek to over 818 million lek, compared to 602 million lek during the same period of 2022.

Albania’s exports to the neighbouring country include mainly locally grown agricultural products, tomatoes, cucumbers, fresh seafood, citrus, dough products, etc.

Albania and North Macedonia cooperate closely to implement CEFTA 2006 agreement and since 2011 trade between the two countries has been liberalized by lifting customs duties.

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According to the latest Foreign Trade Report by INSTAT, Albania’s exports to the EU member states accounted for 73.4 % of the total of exports during the period from January through December 2022, whereas imports from the EU countries represent 51.6 % of the total imports.

Italy, Türkiye, Greece and Germany are the main trading partners, respectively accounting for 29%, 8.4 %, 6.9 % and 6.3% of the total trade exchanges.

In 2022, Albanian exports significantly grew with Italy by 35.1 %, Kosovo by 0.2 % and Germany by 58.6 %), whereas exports to Spain fell by 0.9 %.

Compared to a year ago, imports from Italy, Türkiye and China rose 5.9 %, 33.1 % and 18.8 % respectively, whereas imports from the United States of America, Russia and Austria fell by 10.3 %, 27.3 % and 1.1% respectively.

Albanian exports were valued over 487 billion lek in 2022, up by 32 % year-on-year, whereas imports totalled 950 billion lek, registering a growth by 18.7 %.

The country’s trade deficit is expanded 7.3% year-on-year to 464 billion lek compared to the same period of 2021.

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According to INSTAT data, Albania’s exports to the neighbouring Greece were valued at 3.7 billion lek in the first two months, up from 2.5 billion lek during the same period of the previous year.

Exchanges with Greece were valued at 13 billion lek, accounting for 6.6% of the country’s total volume of trade exchanges in the first two months of this year.

Imports from Greece were valued at 9.2 billion lek during the period in review, from 8 billion lek during same period of 2021.

Imports from Greece mainly include food, beverages and tobacco group valued at 2.5 billion lek, followed by minerals, fuel and electricity valued at 1.8 billion lek and construction materials estimated at 1.7 billion lek.

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INSTAT data showed that trade exchanges with Germany were valued at over seven billion lek in January alone.

Exports to Germany were valued at 3.7 billion lek, up from one billion lek estimated in the same period of the previous year.

According to the INSTAT’s Foreign Trade Report, the textile and footwear group has contributed most to growth of exports to Germany during the reviewed period, followed by the construction material and metals group.

Data show that imports from Germany also grew compared to the same period of 2021, with their value estimated at 3.2 billion lek from 3.1 billion lek in 2021.

The Federal Government has invested more than one billion euros in grants and loans since 1988, making Germany one of largest bilateral donors to the country.

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