Speaking at the Second Artificial Intelligence Forum, which was held today in Tirana, Rama said that financial support will be accompanied by promoting cooperation between companies, business and universities, with the aim of further developing the innovation ecosystem in Albania.

“We will increase the budget to support the sector very significantly year-over-year,” Rama stated.

The prime minister called on companies to seize opportunities to create collaborations with business and universities, while innovative projects developed in this context should also receive state support.

Rama emphasized that part of this process will also be the increase in support for start-ups, but not only, assessing that the Albanian innovation ecosystem has begun to consolidate.

“This requires a significant increase in support for both start-ups and established businesses. We are fully prepared to provide this, as the ecosystem has already begun building its own momentum. Though still fragile, it is ready for the deeper investment needed to scale effectively,” concluded Rama. /e.xh/a.f/p.s./

Minister of the Interior Besfort Lamallari stated today that the State Police is using modern technology—including drones, smart radars, and intelligent tools—to monitor road conditions in real time, catch traffic violations and prevent accidents.

“Respecting traffic rules is a mandatory duty for everyone on the road, not a choice,” Lamallari stated. “Following these rules protects both you and others.”

He added that the State Police will keep monitoring major roads—especially during heavy traffic—to prevent accidents and keep the public safe.

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“If you are a consolidated business seeking innovation, a technological or innovative startup, an educational and research institution, or a digital nomad, this is an opportunity to become part of an ecosystem of innovation and growth,” he said.

Gonxhja emphasized that priority will be given to applicants with the highest number of employees and declared income.

The process, he said, lasts three weeks and will be backed by online meetings and workshops.

Through strategic support for small and medium-sized enterprises, Durana Tech Park aims to attract foreign and domestic investments, while promoting the development of products and services with high added value. With a focus on research, innovation and production in the technology sector, this technology park is designed to create a pool of skilled experts and drive economic growth.

Durana Tech Park offers a very favorable tax regime, specifically designed to maximize the profit of resident companies in the techpark: 0% VAT and 0% profit tax for resident companies, as a major advantage compared to the region, where VAT and profit tax can reach up to 20% and 15%, respectively. 0% personal income tax for 10 years for the employees. Social contributions for employees are limited to 95 euros/month, with a social and health insurance contribution of only 3.4%, bringing significant savings in labor costs.

Durana Tech Park is located in Xhafzotaj. The location is strategic due to its proximity (15 minutes) to the Port of Durres (the largest in Albania and one of the largest in the Adriatic) and Tirana International Airport (20 minutes).

It also guarantees access to the largest and most qualified labor markets in the country (Tirana and Durres), where there are concentrated 75% of higher education institutions and research centers.

The area is quite large, ​​about 26 ha. This property is divided into three separate parts that are not directly connected, although they are close to each other. /r.e/p.s./

Minister of State for Entrepreneurship and Business Climate Delina Ibrahimaj was present at the opening of the fair today.

“Future2Tech” is the first fair dedicated to technology and innovation, where representatives from different sectors have the opportunity to learn about the innovation of Albanian companies in the field of technology and to reflect the initiatives, efforts, collaborations, opportunities and challenges of this field in the public and private service.

The organizers of the fair said that, in addition to hundreds of local and international brands and companies, “Future2 Tech” will also have several events not to be missed.

In the panels planned for the two days of the event, business leaders, local and foreign, will discuss technology in education, tech, innovations in the market, AI, etc.

The technology fair is expected to create new opportunities for interaction between enterprises in this field as well as increase the use of technology in all our creative processes.

According to the organizers, the activity has aroused a special interest, especially among companies related to technology, both for hardware products and for software products and services.

International speakers such as Sirous Kavehercy will be part of the event, where they will inform and excite us with interesting information about the field of technology, innovation and education as the key pillars of the fair as a whole. /r.e/p.s./

Minister of Culture Elva Margariti wrote in the social media that, “Never before has the Mosaic of Tirana been seen in so much detail”.

This historical work of art, a symbol of the cultural heritage of the city of Tirana, unfolds in detail and in vivid colors.

This is in context of a process of documentation and digitization, serving the preservation of the heritage and the information center on the mosaics, which is being set up here.

The Mosaic of Tirana is the only archaeological monument within the territory of the city of Tirana. In 1972, during the work for the construction of multi-storey buildings in neighborhood no. 9 of the city of Tirana, there were discovered the ruins of an ancient building and one of its venues there was paved with mosaics.

The mosaic-equipped hall with an apse was its main environment. /gj.m/p.s./

Prime Minister Edi Rama shared today on social networks an informative video on “Mobile E-Monitoring”, an avant-garde technology, which will identify every irregular situation of vehicles on the road, from the deficiencies of vehicle documentation, the lack of various licenses and cases of informality in the transport of goods or even passengers themselves.

“All violations will be reported to the relevant sector of the State Police and the Road Transport task force through this new digital mechanism,” added Rama.

The General Directorate of the Road Transport Service presented the innovation in the monitoring and control of the documentation of road vehicles as a pilot project with the latest American technology of Motorola Solutions, in cooperation with the National Agency of Information Society and Infosoft Systems.

The main goal of the project is to make evident the real situation on the road vehicles that circulate.

The investment includes devices designed to read license plates of stationary or moving vehicles with data such as time and location coordinates, integrated with mobile devices, which through installed programs will enable real-time detection of the image and vehicle data.

Disciplining the fleet will be an added value for normalizing road traffic, reducing pollution and meeting EU road traffic targets.

Irregularities in the documentation of road vehicles cause serious consequences for public safety, technically uncontrolled vehicles, fiscal evasion, inequality, undermining of road safety, non-coverage of damages from accidents, economic damage and impoverishment of local and central coffers, illegality and avoidance of obligations. / m.m/j.p/p.s./

In this context, the minister said that during last year there were more investments in the State Police, focusing on technology. “We have increased 7.6 times investments in the field of technology from the state budget. Also, starting from the cyber attacks in 2023, we are working to establish a national agency for cyber protection”, he said.

The minister also highlighted the significance of the financial treatment of Police employees, whose salary got increased by 15% in 2022. “We will continue to increase the salary of the police officers because we think that the employees of the State Police deserve an ever better salary”, he assured.

Also, Çuçi spoke about the support that the State Police provides for the smooth running of the tourist season.

He said that for 2023, there is foreseen the creation of a joint special maritime control unit. “We have budgeted for the purchase of equipment. There will be 40 water engines at the disposal of this unit, which during the summer period will patrol the coast of Albania to guarantee as much safety as possible”, he said.

The minister said that in the meantime, there has been created for the first time the special unit of the Alpine police, trained by the Austrian police, which mainly helps all tourists visiting the Albanian Alps.

In the organizational aspect, the minister singled out implementation of the reform of the criminal police, creating for the first time special directorates in the field of narcotics, a special directorate with organized groups and a special structure for serious crimes.

“We have strengthened the Institute of Scientific Police and we are at the end of the procedures of erecting a completely new building for the Scientific Police. The British partners have provided a 4 million pound grant to equip it with the latest technology,” he said.

Çuçi also positively assessed creation of the fixed DNA database with about 11,000 DNA samples, which constitutes a very good basis for increasing the detection of crimes.

Also, the minister informed that in 2022, there were created 20 joint investigation teams with European partners. /j.p/p.s./

The topics addressed at the conference included technological developments and criminal law, scientific methodology and criminal cases, criminological analysis, and the role of technology in crime prevention.

These topics were discussed in a very active way by more than sixty academics and researchers, judges and prosecutors, defense lawyers and representatives of law enforcement agencies, as well as civil society activists who attended the conference.

In the speech held at the conference, the Dean of the Faculty of Law, prof. as. dr. Dorina Hoxha said that the panorama of organized crime has changed drastically in recent years due to advances in technology.

The conference ended with a series of findings and recommendations, which will then be presented to the Albanian authorities for further treatment. The conference was organized in the framework of the Presence project “For the establishment of a Master’s program in Criminology”, financially supported by the United States Mission to the OSCE, the British Embassy in Tirana and the Italian government./p.s./