
Albania's offer to foreign investors, conceived every year by the Albanian Investment Development Agency, almost every year has listed a number of sectors with potential and the first in the ranking was energy.
But it seems that this year's positive developments in tourism have caused the tourism offer to be reformulated, the sectors have remained almost the same but their ranking has changed.
A recent AIDA brochure on foreign investment and potential sectors lists tourism in first place. Agriculture ranks second, followed by energy. Next on the list are manufacturing and information and communication technology as well as outsourcing services.
The brochure highlights the favorable climate of the country, the air connections through the airport of Tirana and Kukes, the natural resources of the underground as well as the coastline of 316 kilometers.
The offer highlights a positive investment climate, a favorable geographical location as well as human capital where 46 percent of the population is under 35 years old, foreign languages spoken such as English, Italian and Greek with French and German taught in schools as well as young people in universities.
1 euro incentive and strategic investments
As far as foreign investments are concerned, Albania seems to continue to learn from its two long-established policies, such as: Albania 1 euro and the status of strategic investments.
In the offer, it is underlined that the 1 euro scheme remains in force, incentives for strategic investments as well as dedicated sectoral incentives.
Another element that stands out is the competitive cost of labor. The brochure highlights that Albania has competitive levels of income tax, overtime contributions and social security. It also has vocational education in some specific sectors as well as some of the most competitive salary levels in the region and a productive workforce.